Recently, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated, resulting in a wave of controversy surrounding the way Chinese internet giants such as Baidu, Sogou, and 360 initially chose to present information about him on their platforms. Following the news of Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran after attending the inauguration ceremony of Iran’s new president, both the Iranian paramilitary organization Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Palestinian extremist group Hamas claimed that Haniyeh was killed in an attack in Iran that they attributed to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Israel would make aggressors pay a heavy price for any acts of aggression, without specifically mentioning Haniyeh’s assassination. Before the attack, Haniyeh had visited Beijing as a representative of Hamas to sign the “Beijing Declaration” alongside representatives of other Palestinian factions.
Chinese state media reported Haniyeh’s death, prompting websites like Baidu, Sogou, and 360 to change their descriptions of him from color to black and white in a form of mourning mode, sparking a debate over the portrayal.
Financial writer “Tao Shun Finance” expressed concerns in an article titled “Baidu’s Values Are in Question When Commemorating Haniyeh,” criticizing Baidu for hastily paying their respects in a way that appeared overly mourning and emotional towards the deceased.
Internet technology blogger “Digging for Wisdom_Duwa” conducted a search experiment, finding that when searching for “Ismail Haniyeh” on mobile phones, both Baidu Baike and 360 Baike displayed gray pages, suggesting a form of mourning, while Sogou Baike showed colored pages (although it had also previously been gray). Microsoft’s Bing only displayed news results with no dedicated entry.
Another internet technology blogger, “Wayne Still”, commented on the change in Baidu Baike’s page color following Haniyeh’s assassination, expressing shock at Baidu’s action.
Some users likened Baidu’s actions to mourning a terrorist, with one user questioning the inconsistency of showing grief for someone considered anti-human and involved in attacks on civilians, child killings, and rapes of minors. Others sarcastically suggested Baidu relocate its headquarters to Gaza and called for a boycott of all Baidu products. In response to criticism from users, all mentioned websites restored the color to their pages on August 1.