28.03.2024

Baidu

The U.S. Supreme court unexpectedly voted to support Chinese censorship. The Federal district court in new York stated that restrictions on distribution of content established by the search engine Baidu, only strengthen the freedom of speech, as the company has the right to decide what to say and what to hold back.

The decision of judge Jesse Furman angered the plaintiffs in the case against Baidu, which has previously stated that the activities of Baidu violated their rights guaranteed by the First amendment.

Furman had appealed to the American Constitution, moreover, by the same amendment. But the judge just believes that Baidu acts as the media having the right to freedom of speech. The Chinese can choose what information to block.

The lawsuit against Baidu was filed by 8 writers and video content creators. They were hoping to sue a player from China $16 million Note that it is extremely difficult from a purely technical point of view, but if the court upheld the prosecution, the PRC would receive from the United States a clearer signal. Instead, according to counsel from the face of the plaintiffs, America has demonstrated «perfect paradox», when the company’s right to struggle with freedom of speech called freedom of speech.

Before it became known that Baidu plans to spend several billion dollars to purchase promising companies. According to Director General Robert E. Lee, for long-term growth can be sacrificed to short term profit.

«If you have the opportunity to purchase time, additional resources, or brains, we don’t miss it,» said Lee during the press conference on financial results for the fourth quarter.

Net profit for the period decreased by 1% compared to the fourth quarter of 2012 from 2.8 billion yuan to 2.78 billion yuan. Revenue jumped 50% to 9.52 billion yuan ($1.57 billion). The Internet giant expects that in the first quarter net profit will triple to reach 9.6 billion yuan.

According to analysts ‘ estimates, about 20% of its revenues from mobile users. It is expected that after 3 years the proportion will rise to 60%.

Now the revenue from display and sale of online advertising is of 9.46 billion yuan. Over the past year the number of Baidu users in China rose by 10% to 591 million people. The number of mobile Internet users increased by 20% to 464 million.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *