Chinese tech giant Baidu (9888.HK) has denied allegations of a data breach following reports that the teenage daughter of a senior executive shared personal user information online, fueling public debate.
The controversy erupted after social media users accused the daughter of Baidu vice president Xie Guangjun of leaking private details—such as phone numbers—during an online dispute. The incident raised concerns about potential misuse of company data.
In response, Baidu asserted that its employees, including executives, do not have access to user data. The company stated that the information posted by the teenager came from illegally obtained “doxing databases” hosted on foreign platforms, which collect stolen personal data.
Baidu also announced that it had filed a police report over the spread of false claims, including allegations that Xie’s daughter admitted to receiving database access from her father. Meanwhile, Xie, a key figure in Baidu’s cloud division, issued a public apology, clarifying that his daughter had sourced the information from overseas social networking sites, as reported by Chinese media.
China has tightened its data privacy regulations in recent years to combat illegal data trading and unauthorized sharing of personal information. The controversy surrounding Baidu comes amid growing scrutiny of data security in the country.
Following the incident, Baidu’s stock price dropped over 4% in Hong Kong trading on Thursday morning.
