On Thursday (Might 9) night time, Cristina Jing Qu, vp and head of the folk members of the family area of Chinese language seek engine and tech gigantic Baidu, issued a observation on her WeChat Moments account, expressing an apology for the cut movies she just lately posted to Douyin that brought on an intense backlash on Chinese language social media.
Over the Might Presen sleep duration, Qu shared 4 movies. In those movies, she expressed her strategy to control, mentioning, “If you are not satisfied with your job, feel free to resign. I will approve it immediately.” She mentioned that she has deny legal responsibility to “consider employees as family” because “I’m not your mother”.
She added within the movies: “If you work in public relations, don’t expect weekends off. Keep your phone on 24 hours a day, always ready to respond.”
Her remarks at the poisonous overworking tradition usual amongst China’s tech giants startled the web family and prompted a PR situation for Baidu. On Tuesday, Might 7, the second one operating month later the Chinese language Might Presen vacations, the accumulation value of Baidu indexed in Hong Kong dropped 2.17% or a lack of about HKD 6 billion (US$768 million) in worth.
Following the web backlash, the 4 movies from Qu’s account had been got rid of. Rumours circulating on Wednesday instructed that Qu have been fired from the corporate. Alternatively, next media stories showed that she continues to be operating at Baidu.
As a emblem, Baidu remained serene and didn’t reply to media inquiries or feedback from Chinese language netizens. Most effective Qu addressed the problem on her WeChat account within the night time. She mentioned, “I have meticulously read through the numerous criticisms, which are indeed valid, and I humbly accept and deeply reflect on them.” She additional defined that she had no longer sought the corporate’s favor sooner than posting the cut movies, “which does not meet the relevant procedures”. She additionally clarified that her remarks “do not represent the company’s position”.
Qu reportedly issued a directive sooner than the vacations. According to a screenshot that circulated on-line, she mandated that each one Baidu’s PR workforce individuals needed to form non-public accounts on platforms similar to Douyin, WeChat Channels, and Crimson or Xiaohongshu by means of Might 2.
Qu is claimed to have won 950,000 fans in 5 days following her arguable feedback in those cut movies. She was once a former reporter from Xinhua Information Company, China’s professional atmosphere press company. Earlier than becoming a member of Baidu in 2021, she was once vp of Huawei’s folk and executive affairs area and China’s media affairs area.
Hour this isn’t the primary generation Baidu has been embroiled in a PR situation, it’s the primary {that a} PR head from a significant Chinese language tech corporate has been the supply of a emblem’s troubles.
In 2016, Baidu was once below investigation by means of the Chinese language web regulatory authority following the loss of life of Wei Zexi, a pupil who had gone through an experimental most cancers remedy in a health center indexed on the manage of Baidu’s seek effects, and which resulted in pervasive folk outrage.
In the meantime, in 2018, Robin Li, the founding father of Baidu, made a observation suggesting that Chinese language web customers be ready to business their privateness for comfort. This commentary ignited folk discontent.