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Chinese netizens oppose Baidu CEO’s candidacy for top academic honor
Past search ad scandals have a lingering effect on the reputation of Baidu co-founder Robin Li
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
If Google CEO Sundar Pichai ever became a member of the US-based National Academy of Engineering, you probably wouldn’t see many people protesting the move. In China, however, news that Baidu CEO Robin Li is one of 531 new candidates for China’s Academy of Engineering’s has triggered public outrage.
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The academy is an advisory body under China’s State Council. Its members, referred to as academicians, are usually considered the top of their field and are widely respected in China. But past Baidu controversies are now complicating things for Li.
“If people like Robin Li can be an academician, it’s the start of this country collapsing,” one Weibo user wrote in a comment that’s received more than 180 likes.
Similar comments saying that the CEO doesn’t deserve to be an academician are also flooding social media, with netizens asking the Academy to not select him as a final member.
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People’s anger towards Li and Baidu goes back to 2016, when a university student died after undergoing a cancer treatment found in a promoted search result on Baidu. The search engine was then ordered to clean up its medical ads and scale back from ranking search results in favor of higher bidders.
The problem wasn’t completely solved, though.
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