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Baidu denies data leak in VP’s daughter controversy

Baidu has denied any data breach following an internal investigation into an incident involving the daughter of its vice president Xie Guangjun, who was found sharing private information online.

The company’s head of security addressed the issue on its internal network, stating no signs of a data leak from Baidu and assured that no employees, including Xie, have direct access to Baidu’s user databases.

The controversy erupted after Xie’s 13-year-old daughter, who resides in Canada, was discovered exposing people’s private information online, claiming she had obtained the data from her father. This fueled speculation that Baidu’s internal data had been leaked by employees.

On Monday, Xie issued a public apology via WeChat Moments, acknowledging his failure to properly guide his daughter and expressing regret to those affected. He explained that his daughter had shared the information during an online argument, which ultimately led to both of their personal details being exposed and triggered widespread discussion.

Recent Baidu developments

Timeline
17-Mar-2025 🤖 Baidu launches two new AI models for text, reasoning tasks
Baidu launches Ernie 4.5 and Ernie X1 models for free on Ernie Bot, enhancing multimodal and reasoning capabilities.
08-Mar-2025 💰 Baidu seeks $2b via exchangeable bonds for Trip.com shares
Baidu seeks to raise up to $2 billion via exchangeable bonds to support debt and corporate needs, maturing in 2032.
03-Mar-2025 💰 Baidu to raise $1.4b from offshore yuan bonds
Baidu plans to issue 10 billion yuan in bonds, its first since 2021, to fund AI investments amid China’s tech boom.
27-Feb-2025 🤖 Baidu’s streaming platform launches DeepSeek-powered chatbot
Baidu’s YY Live launches AI chatbot YYDS, marking a key move in China’s live-streaming market post-acquisition.
19-Feb-2025 📉 Baidu’s Q4 revenue falls 2% as ad dip offsets AI cloud gains
Baidu’s revenue dipped 2% to 34.12 billion yuan, driven by declining ad sales but boosted by 26% growth in Cloud AI.
17-Feb-2025 📉 Baidu shares plunge as founder misses tech summit with Xi Jinping
Baidu shares drop 7% after founder Robin Li misses key meeting with Xi Jinping, wiping $2.4 billion off market value.

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