Keyword Advertising：Analysis of Chinese Largest Search Engine’s Unethical Behaviours

王萱

1. Introduction of the Case- Death of Wei Zexi

Chinas biggest search engine Baidu has been facing credibility problem since the death of a university student--Wei Zexi. Wei was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma in 2014. He resorted to a controversial treatment at the Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps which was listed at the top of Baidu search results. However the treatment was unsuccessful and the 21-year-old student died on 12 April 2016. Shortly afterwards， its found that this treatment was ineffective for Weis cancer and the hospital was actually notorious. （BBC， 2016） Keyword advertising， also known as paid placement and sponsored search advertising， enables the advertisers products to appear prominently among the results of a keyword search. （Chen & He， 2011） In recent years， keyword advertising has become the main source of income for search engines.

2. Violation of Moral Norms

2.1 Fairness

Excessively manipulating the search results， Baidu breaks the rule of fairness. Not depending on click rate， the order of Baidus results can be decided by the amount of money advertisers pay. The web page of the company which doesnt want to pay will be placed fairly back， even blocked by Baidu， while the advertisers pay more can have PR protection， which means Baidu will help them delete the negative news or comments. （Hongyuan & Lu， 2009） This kind of exchange of place with money violates market rules for Internet search platform set up on page view rate and click rate.

2.2 Autonomy

On Baidu， advertising links are marked at the bottom with a small sign saying "promote"， but many say this does not identify them as paid-for listings sufficiently clearly. （BBC， 2016） No doubt， advertisements are exaggerated to some extent， sometimes fake. Mingling huge amount of advertisements with facts and knowledge together interferes Internet users when they make decisions based on this information. In this case， Baidu violates its users autonomy. Autonomy is the power over oneself， the ability to resist others influence， and the ability to engage in action without others permission. （Marwell， 1966） However， the Internet users can only get the information “filtered” by Baidu.

3. Presumed Causes for the Violation

3.1 Lack rigorous censorship

Intentionally or unintentionally， Baidu conducts a loose censorship on the advertisements. Although Baidu just plays the role as platform， it should take the responsibility of supervising the content of these websites when promoting them in keyword advertising way， especially for what it puts on the first page. What is more unexpected is that some of Baidus staff not only turn a blind eye to advertisers， but also help them muddle through other investigations.endprint

3.2 Legal loophole

In addition to self-supervision， Baidus keyword advertising also lacks effective legal regulation. Although it is called “advertising”， the latest revised version of Chinese advertisement law doesnt include it. Some argue that advertising is defined as offering subjective content， while Baidu is just re-ordering objective content. （Chong， 2016） Nevertheless， when the negative side-effect of this business model becomes more and more obvious， there is a need for a complete legal system and related department to be in charge of it.

4. Considerations on the Preventions of the Incident

It is presumable that tragedy like the death of Wei Zexi wont repeat itself ifBaidu establishes a rigorous censorship on the contents of advertisements， limits the number of advertisement on first page and distinguishes them with obvious marks. Public can get real information from Baidu， so they have less possibility trusting exaggerated advertisements and make wrong choice. Only by offering an ordered and fair platform， the overall interests of its customers could be satisfies. At the same time， advertisers know the way increasing sales is improving products or services， instead of paying Baidu as much as possible. They would spend more money on enhancing quality， which also reduces the chance of trusting something wrong for the Internet users.

As to the owner of Baidu， their interest （maximize investment） seems to be in conflict with the interests of other two groups， so they might reject the practices mentioned above and force Baidu to focus on profit. However， in the long run， a company cannot maximize its value if it ignores the interest of society， customers， and etc. （Jensen， 2001） Limiting the number of advertisements and having a rigorous censorship， Baidu actually improves its reputation gradually. Only when Internet users are satisfied with it， Baidu can strengthen relationship with its existing users and attract more new users.

Bibliography

BBC， 2016. China investigates search engine Baidu after student's death. [Online]

Available at： http：//www.bbc.com/news/business-36189252

[Accessed 2016].

Chen， Y. & He， C.， 2011. Paid Placment： Advertising And Search On The Interrnet. The Economic Journal， Volume Vol. 121， No. 556， pp. pp. F309-F328.

Chong， R.， 2016. Baidu's Paid Placement Should Be Under The Supervision of Advetisment Law， s.l.： Jiefang Daily.endprint