China’s biggest search engine Baidu looks into 3 billion fake news claims a year

Internet company uses technology to find potentially spurious information then turns to government agencies for verification, its president says

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The spread of rumours and false information is a global problem that requires technology and cooperation to fix, says Baidu president Zhang Yaqin. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 2:29pm, 10 Oct 2017Updated: 2:29pm, 10 Oct 2017

China’s biggest search engine, Baidu, checks out 3 billion claims of fake news every year and works closely with government agencies to tackle an issue it calls a global challenge.

The spread of rumours and false information is a problem faced by companies around the world that requires technology and cooperation with external organisations to fix, President Zhang Yaqin told Bloomberg Television.

Baidu, one of the country’s three largest internet players, employs technology to spot potentially spurious information before turning to local agencies such as the cyberspace administration to verify items, he said.

Zhang Yaqin says Baidu is expanding its artificial intelligence labs in America and would likely try to acquire more companies there. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Pressure is building on social media services from Google to Twitter to try and curb the proliferation of fake news and targeted ads that critics say have an outsized effect on public discourse and elections.

Facebook’s chief security officer, Alex Stamos, said last week it was very difficult to spot fake news and propaganda using computer programs, a view echoed by former Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.