Baidu.com, the largest Chinese internet search engine provider, has made an apology to Internet users for failing to regulate false claims made by medical advertisers featuring prominently in its search rankings.

Baidu admitted that some companies had used its website to post false information. The company said it had begun an internal investigation on the problem and would coordinate with the regulatory departments. In the meantime, it expressed its sincere apology to users and other clients for hurting their feelings.

Unlike most other search engines, Baidu mixes sponsored links with real search results without marking the sponsored links clearly. Under Baidu's search model, customers can bid for search keywords and the link to the highest bidder's website will appear at the top of the search results. Because of this, Baidu is facing more and more criticism.

According to Chinese media, fees charged from search result ranking and advertising account for nearly all the income of Baidu.

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