Online Medical Advertising Using Paid Listings On Search Engines

In April 2016, the death of a terminally ill college student, Wei Zexi, outraged China's online community. Wei had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and when traditional treatments did not work, he had gone online to search for alternative options. Using China's largest and most popular search engine Baidu, Wei found a military hospital in Beijing claiming to have an experimental treatment for his illness. The treatment did not work. Prior to his death, Wei wrote a long and widely read post detailing his experience in finding a cure and blaming Baidu for displaying promoted search results that directed him to the hospital.

Thousands of China's netizens expressed sympathy for Wei and directed their anger at Baidu's role in the tragedy. Many centered their criticism on Baidu's paid listing feature, especially as it relates to medical services.