Baidu found guilty in advertising legal battle

The largest Chinese search engine, Baidu, was found guilty of “a breach of reasonable standard of care” by the Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People’s Court. The case involved a transportation company, Dazhong Banchang, whose company name was used in advertisements from another company. Baidu argued that it is only the advertiser and since it did not create the ad it cannot be held responsible for the content on the website. The ruling requires Baidu to issue a public apology and pay RMB 50,000 in compensation.