Recently, a pregnant woman made a neutral comment on the schedule of a South Korean artist on Weibo, only to be attacked by the artist’s fans, leading to the exposure of her personal information and online harassment. Xiaoke (alias) spoke up for the pregnant woman and was then doxxed by the daughter of Baidu’s vice president, Xie Guangjun, (a term for illegally obtaining and publicly revealing others’ private information). Xiaoke stated that she has already reported the incident to the local police station and hopes for a public apology from Xie Guangjun.
According to Red News report on March 19th, Xiaoke mentioned in an interview that on the afternoon of March 15th, she posted on a topic on Weibo criticizing the artist’s fans for harassing a pregnant woman. Subsequently, a user with the ID “Your Eyes Are the Smallest Lakes in the World” (referred to as ‘Eyes’) publicly disclosed her name and ID number. Xiaoke visited the user’s profile and found that she was not the only one doxxed, indicating that “there were at least five or more people.”
After gathering evidence, Xiaoke quickly reported the incident.
“Our information was widely spread through secondary dissemination, with some reaching tens of thousands likes and over 500 reposts,” Xiaoke said. “As long as my opinions upset others, they can publicly disclose my information and incite others to cyberbully me, which makes me feel very unsettled.”
Previously, internet users dug up a work permit disclosed by “Eyes” and speculated that “Eyes” father was Baidu’s vice president, Xie Guangjun. Another account suspected to be “Eyes” claimed that she obtained the data from her “parents,” raising suspicions of Baidu leaking user’s personal information.
Xiaoke stated that on the 18th, she had already reported the incident to the local police station and had contacted several other victims doxxed by “Eyes,” with two of them having reported to the police.
In response to the doxxing incident by “Eyes,” Xie Guangjun issued a “apology statement” on his WeChat moments on March 17th, stating, “My 13-year-old daughter argued with someone online, lost control of her emotions, and posted others’ private information from an overseas social media platform on her account, which led to her own personal information also being exposed, triggering a spread of numerous negative comments,” and “I failed to timely teach her about respect, protecting others and her own privacy, feel deeply guilty, and sincerely apologize to all affected friends.”
However, Xiaoke does not accept the apology, stating, “I do not know her (Eyes), and there is no dispute between us, which contradicts what Xie Guangjun said.” “Apologizing on moments, the victims cannot see it. I hope he can publicly apologize and explain how his daughter obtained this information, whether it is related to Baidu’s database.”
According to reports, Baidu’s security head, Chen Yang, made a response on the internal company network on the afternoon of March 17th, stating that the “Xie Guangjun’s daughter’s doxxing incident” data did not come from Baidu. As of now, Baidu and Xie Guangjun have not issued any public statements regarding the incident.