百度因出現神祕賭博廣告而面臨調查

Regulators are investigating stealth banner ads for online gambling that show up only at night on Chinese search engine Baidu, in the second advertising scandal this year to engulf China’s alternative to Google.

監管部門正在調查只有晚上纔會在中國搜索引擎百度(Baidu)上出現的有關在線賭博的神祕橫幅廣告。這是今年席捲這家中國版谷歌(Google)的第二起廣告醜聞。

The Beijing News alleged online gambling sites would register corporate accounts on Baidu through third-party advertising agencies, spoofing real companies that did not hold accounts with the search engine. They would then post ads that would appear only at night.

《新京報》(The Beijing News)稱，在線賭博網站會通過第三方廣告公司在百度上註冊企業賬號，僞裝成從未在百度註冊賬戶的真實公司。之後，它們會投放只在夜間出現的廣告。

The Cyber Administration of China said it would investigate the matter and publish its findings “in due course”. In May, regulators vowed to crack down on misleading medical advertisements, in a case also involving Baidu.

中國國家互聯網信息辦公室（“網信辦”）稱，將對此事進行調查並“在適當的時侯”公佈調查結果。5月，監管部門曾誓言打擊具有誤導性的醫療廣告，該案件也涉及百度。

Baidu, which said it had reported the latest case to police, acknowledged loopholes in its systems. “Baidu’s anti-cheating system still has deficiencies. As a next step, we will strengthen the accuracy and coverage of the system and combat illegal information with full force,” executive marketing director Gu Guodong told a press conference this week.

百度稱已經將此事報警，並承認其系統存在漏洞。“百度在反作弊體系中仍存在不完善之處，下一步，我們將進一步加強識別體系的識別精度和覆蓋度，全力打擊處理非法內容，”百度大市場體系執行總監顧國棟本週在記者會上表示。

It has been a difficult week for the company, which also faces US shareholders’ displeasure at a proposed buyout of its online video portal by its founder Robin Li.

本週對百度來說是艱難的一週，同時還在其創始人李彥宏(Robin Li)提出收購其在線視頻門戶網站一事上，面對美國股東的不滿。

New York-based investment firm Acacia Partners, which owns just less than 1 per cent of the Nasdaq-listed company, has written to Mr Li, who is chairman and chief executive of Baidu. Its letter says his proposed $2.8bn purchase of the group’s 80 per cent stake in iQiyi would be “against the best long-term interest of Baidu and its shareholders” and “a grave mistake”.

紐約投資公司Acacia Partners持有這家納斯達克上市企業略低於1%的股份。該公司致函百度董事長兼首席執行官李彥宏，稱他提出的以28億美元收購百度在愛奇藝(iQiyi)所持80%股份“不符合百度及其股東的最佳長期利益”，並且是“一個嚴重錯誤”。

Baidu has come under pressure as customers switch away from personal computers to smartphones, increasingly accessing the internet through mobile devices and social networking apps rather than search engines. It has been selling off some investments in the fast-growing but lossmaking online travel and online video sectors. In February, Mr Li made a non-binding offer for iQiyi. At the time, Baidu said it had set up a committee made up of three independent directors to assess the proposal, which valued the internet video site at about $2.8bn.

隨着消費者從個人電腦轉向智能手機，人們開始越來越多地從移動設備和社交網絡App（而非使用搜索引擎）使用互聯網，百度日益承受壓力。它近來出售了在快速增長但往往虧損的在線旅遊和在線視頻板塊的一些投資。2月，李彥宏發出對愛奇藝的非約束性要約。當時，百度稱已經成立了一個由3名獨立董事組成的委員會對該要約進行評估。該提議對這家互聯網視頻網站的估值約爲28億美元。

In April, Baidu came under fire for the placement of ads linked to a network of hospitals.

4月，百度因投放與一家醫院體系有關的廣告而受到抨擊。