The vice president of Baidu, China’s largest search portal company, publicly apologized after reports on the 18th by Chinese media revealed that his daughter had spread personal information of netizens who defamed Jang Wonyoung of the idol group IVE.

Xie Guangjun (謝廣軍), the vice president of Baidu, wrote in a post on Weibo (the Chinese version of X) the previous day, saying, “My 13-year-old daughter got into an argument with someone online, and after failing to control her emotions, she shared personal information of others on her overseas social media account.”

He added, “As a father, I failed to teach her the importance of protecting others’ and individuals’ privacy in a timely manner,” and expressed, “I deeply feel remorse and solemnly apologize to those who were affected.”

Vice President Xie stated that he had talked with his daughter and reprimanded her, urging netizens not to spread personal information.

Earlier, there was a stir on Weibo after a woman and other netizens launched a cyberattack against a pregnant woman who had posted criticism of Jang Wonyoung. This woman was known to have spread the personal information of nearly 100 netizens, including the pregnant woman.

The woman claimed she wasn’t afraid of police reports as she was in Canada and boasted that her father held a high position at Baidu.

It was revealed that she was the daughter of Xie Guangjun after other netizens found pictures on Weibo of online orders, a certificate of employment, and a payslip showing a salary of 220,000 yuan (around 44 million KRW) with the name “Xie Guangjun.”

Xie Guangjun joined Baidu in 2010 and was promoted to vice president during the spring promotions of 2021.

According to Chinese criminal law, selling or providing personal information to others can result in a sentence of up to three years in prison or detention, as well as a fine, depending on the severity of the case.

If someone publicly insults another person online, they could be fined up to 500 yuan (about 10,000 KRW) or face detention of up to five days.

Chinese netizens have pointed out that personal information appears to have been leaked through Baidu’s database, expressing concerns about Baidu’s security vulnerabilities.

1. ….Huh?

2. This is what all fans want to do but can’t ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ This was so refreshing

3. A 13 y’o daughter who is able to just spread personal information of his dad’s company is kinda bad. What is up with the security system over there?

4. That’s a legendary kid ㅋㅋㅋ

5. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ That’s freaking hilarious

6. A kind hacker

7. ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ This is the real righteous enemy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

8. No but I can understand the dad being pissed about the personal information leaked, but I can understand her so it’s just funny ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

9. What is this ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

10. But they might fire the dad