Baidu accused of promoting counterfeit medicines
21-Jul-2010
Chinese search engine provider Baidu has become the latest to stand accused of failing to do enough to protect the public from being exposed to illicit websites peddling illegal medicines.
China’s state run television station ran piece recently suggesting Baidu is indirectly promoting counterfeit drugs because it has sold sponsored search engine keywords to organisations operating illegal pharmacies.
Similar accusations have been levelled at other search engine companies - notably Google and Bing - and these have responded by only allowing accredited online pharmacies (such as those certified by the VIPSS system in the USA) to be displayed among sponsored search results.
CCTV ran a report claiming it had identified 3,000 people had bought fake medicines as a result of sponsored keyword ads on Baidu, which holds about 70 per cent of the search engine market in China.
Related articles:
Microsoft, Yahoo follow Google in fight against rogue online pharmacies
Google toughens up on online pharmacies
US consumer group weighs in on online pharmacy debate
Microsoft's Bing 'compromised by rogue Internet pharmacies'
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