Baidu — the Chinese search engine recently accused of censoring Web sites related to tainted milk — has just announced a $15 million plan to improve its online video system. Baidu is investing the money in Chinese video platform operator UiTV, giving it an 8.3 percent stake in the company.
Sometimes referred to as the “Google of China,” Baidu says it has the nation’s largest legal online movie and TV database. That database, of course, is closely monitored by government authorities.
Baidu — which pulls in about 60 percent of the Chinese search market share — has denied claims that it deleted sites about tainted milk from its search results this month. Online postings suggested the company had accepted money from dairy companies to help hush concern over bad milk (which is blamed for thousands of sicknesses and a handful of deaths). Baidu does allow advertisers to pay for higher result rankings but maintains it has never in any way censored news related to the infected milk investigation.
