In line with Chinese language media, Cristina Jing Qu, vp and head of the population family members section of Chinese language seek engine and tech gigantic Baidu, has left the corporate following a form of arguable movies that ended in social-media backlash. Makes an attempt to touch Qu for feedback have been unsuccessful. She didn’t factor any private observation in regards to the topic. Moreover, the name of Baidu VP has been got rid of from Qu’s Douyin account, which has about 1,000,000 fans.
At the present, Baidu has now not exempted any authentic observation concerning the incident. An unique file through AI Lightyear, a information group below Tencent Information, clear that Robin Li, the founding father of Baidu, and the top of human assets, joined an inner assembly on Thursday afternoon. Throughout this assembly, Li reportedly made feedback about Qu’s condition. Li counseled the workers of Baidu, pointing out, “You’re the ones who constitute Baidu, you’re the ones who constitute probably the most original Baidu, you’re the maximum actual representatives of Baidu”.
In the meantime, on Sina Weibo, media clear that Qu had created a fresh corporate this April in Shenzhen, and that her submit saying it has transform a stylish matter. Qu is the chief of Wakawaka Tradition Ltd and holds 90% of stocks. The residue 10% of stocks are owned through her colleague when she used to be running at Baidu.
Over the Would possibly Past sleep length, Qu shared 4 movies. In those movies, she expressed her way to control, pointing out, “If you are not satisfied with your job, feel free to resign. I will approve it immediately.” She stated 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 widespread amongst China’s tech giants startled the web family and brought about a PR disaster for Baidu. On Tuesday, Would possibly 7, the second one running while later the Chinese language Would possibly Past 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 price.
Qu exempted a observation on her WeChat Moments account in the dark on Thursday, apologising for the hot snip movies posted on Douyin that caused an intense backlash on Chinese language social media. Following the web backlash, the 4 movies from Qu’s account have been got rid of.
Qu addressed the problem on her WeChat account within the night time. She said, “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 now not sought the corporate’s approbation earlier than posting the snip movies, “which does not meet the relevant procedures”. She additionally clarified that her remarks “do not represent the company’s position”.
Qu additionally reportedly issued a directive earlier than the vacations. In response to a screenshot that circulated on-line, she mandated that Baidu’s PR group contributors needed to form private accounts on platforms akin to Douyin, WeChat Channels, and Purple or Xiaohongshu through Would possibly 2.
Qu won over 950,000 fans in 5 days following her arguable feedback in those snip movies. She used to be a former reporter from Xinhua Information Company, China’s authentic condition press company. Earlier than becoming a member of Baidu in 2021, she used to be vp of Huawei’s population and executive affairs section and China’s media affairs section.
Age this isn’t the primary occasion Baidu has been embroiled in a PR disaster, it’s the primary {that a} PR head from a big Chinese language tech corporate has been the supply of a logo’s troubles.
In 2016, Baidu used to be below investigation through the Chinese language web regulatory authority following the dying of Wei Zexi, a scholar who had gone through an experimental most cancers remedy in a health center indexed on the lead of Baidu’s seek effects, and which ended in frequent population 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 industry their privateness for comfort. This statement ignited population discontent.
