CHINA’S Internet watchdog has set up a task force to investigate the country’s biggest search engine Baidu, amid mounting criticism over its prominent placement of sponsored health-care service providers in its search results.

    The controversy arose after a young man sought treatment for his cancer and later died after receiving care at a hospital he had found on top of his Baidu search.

    Cyberspace Administration officials, alongside health authorities and officials from the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, will look into the allegation and whether the practice is legal.

    Critics say Baidu should do more to check the claims made by advertisers who pay for high rankings in online searches.

    Wei Zexi, a computer science student from Shaanxi Province, died in April of synovial sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that occurs in the soft issue around the joints.

    Wei, 21, used Baidu to search for recommended treatments for his tumors after undergoing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, according to a statement issued by his parents published by Chinese news outlet Caixin.

    He opted for a form of immunotherapy — a treatment that tries to get the body’s immune system to fight the disease more effectively — offered by a hospital run by the Beijing armed police that came up top in the Baidu search results, the statement said.

    The Second Hospital of the Beijing Armed Police Corps describes its DC-CIK — short for dendritic cells and cytokine-induced killer cells — treatment to tackle tumors as the most advanced technology in its promotional material.

    It said the treatment had been developed by Stanford University in the United States, which had cooperated in transferring its expertise to China.

    The effectiveness of immunotherapy in tackling cancer has been questioned by some medical experts.

    It is still an experimental treatment, according to Dr. Stephen Chan, an associate professor at the Department of Clinical Oncology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

    The therapy was still undergoing clinical trials and should not be used routinely as a standard treatment for cancer, Chan said.

    The Stanford University School of Medicine was also quoted by a Bloomberg Businessweek reporter on its social media account as saying that it did conduct research on the therapy, but was not involved with any Chinese hospital to introduce it to China.

    The treatment cost Wei’s family more than 200,000 yuan (US$31,746) and was unsuccessful, with the cancer’s cells spreading to his lungs within months.

    Baidu was strongly criticized in a commentary published by a social media account operated by the People’s Daily.

    It said the search engine operator put profit as its top priority, ignoring the bottom line of morality.

    “As a search engine company that occupies a commanding market share in China, Baidu serves as the entrance for the majority of Chinese Internet users to search for information, but it is a seemingly open and wide entrance to knowledge that has become choked at the throat by capital,” it said.

    Baidu, which had already came under fire in January for allowing health-care companies to moderate online health forums in exchange for cash, said it had launched an investigation into the matter.(SD-Agencies)

    The company said in a written response to the South China Morning Post’s request for comment: “We deeply regret the death of Wei Zexi and our condolences go out to his family.

    “Baidu strives to provide a safe and trustworthy search experience for our users and have launched an immediate investigation of the matter.”

    (SD-Agencies)