When Search Engines Deal in Fake Drugs

by Te-Ping Chen · 2010-07-22 10:31:00 UTC
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Who says Chinese state-run television can't run hard-hitting reports?

This week, China Central Television (CCTV) turned heads when it aired a program accusing Baidu — China's primary search engine — of profiting by directing users to sites that sell counterfeit medicines.

It's a scathing claim. As we wrote here earlier this week, unlike fake Gucci handbags, counterfeit medicines are deadly for consumers, killing hundreds of thousands of people each year. The World Health Organization estimates that in the developing world, counterfeit drugs comprise fully one-quarter of the market. (In China, counterfeiters of such pills usually face fines of between just $17 and $507.)

According to CCTV, Baidu was abetting counterfeit drug producers through the sale of sponsored search keywards to illegal pharmacies. Baidu is declining to comment.

But in the meantime, the episode adds one more notch in CCTV's belt against the search engine. In 2008, the network also ran an expose on Baidu, after unearthing how the company sold links to unlicensed medical sites hawking products of dubious merit. After that program was aired, the company's Nasdaq-listed shares dropped by 40%, and Baidu's chief executive was forced to publicly apologize.

Of course, Baidu isn't the only search engine that's taken an ugly turn in this kind of spotlight. Though Baidu may be Google's fiercest competitor in China, the two search engine giants would likely find much to commiserate about over the issue.

In 2008, Google also landed in the crossfires when news surfaced that its searches produced ads for less-than-credible distributors. Yahoo has faced such accusations, as well. (Both have pledged to do more to filter out such sites.)

Most recently, Microsoft's Bing has raised eyebrows, with a late 2009 report that found 90% of the search engine's reviewed Internet pharmacy advertisements were promoting fake or illegal online pharmacies.

For more on how to avoid counterfeit medicines, check out our previous coverage here. And whether you're using Google or Baidu, caveat emptor.

Photo Credit: thisparticulargreg

Te-Ping Chen Te-Ping Chen is a freelance writer and U.S. Truman Scholar whose writing has appeared in the Nation Magazine, the South China Morning Post magazine, Le Soir, and Slate.com.
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