Chinese authorities are now investigating Baidu regarding the death of a student who relied on the search engine to treat his cancer. Wei Zexi is a computer science student Xidian University, aged 21, passed away last month of a rare case of cancer.
Following the death of the said student and its investigation, shares of Baidu dived to 7.92%. Baidu stated on its Weibo account of its request for the hospital's investigation.
Wei was diagnosed in 2014 to have a synovial sarcoma and had undergone a controversial treatment at a hospital advertised on the search engine. Baidu is always referred to as the China's Google and stated that they deeply regret Wei Zexi's passing and gave their condolences to his family, BBC reports.
According to a Fortune report, Chinese social media exposed the story of Wei Zexi whose family raised more than $30,000 for his cure at a government hospital he discovered by searching in Baidu. The hospital advertised an innovation treatment for synovial sarcoma. After Wei's failed treatment and later on his death in April, reports spread that the treatment was not effective than what the hospital had advertised.
Before Wei died, he accused Baidu online of advertising false medical information including the hospital for misleading advertisement in claiming a huge success rate for the said treatment, says Reuters.
"Wei's family says they trusted the treatment because it was promoted by one of the military hospitals which are considered credible, and the attending doctor had appeared on many mainstream media platforms," state radio said.
Baidu shares plunged to $176.50 before trading down 7.9% at $179.95 on heavy volume during mid-morning.
The search engine company was criticized earlier this year for selling management rights for a hemophilia online forum to a private hospital which has no license to operate using the platform for self-promotion and erased comments that challenged its credentials.
Cyberspace Administration of China, the country's internet regulator teams up with several other government agencies to investigate including the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
