The Chinese internet regulator has introduced new rules governing how search engines must operate in the country. The new rules state that search engines must provide “objective, fair and authoritative results”, and that these organic results must not harm the interests of the public, legal organisations or the Chinese nation. The rules also state that search engines must limit the number of ads that appear in the search engine results pages, and that these ads must be clearly labelled so that users can differentiate them from organic results. The rules have been introduced due to persistent complaints of confusion between paid and organic results in China, as well as in response to a recent investigation into the main search engine Baidu, after the death of a user who found misleading medical information via the site. The rules will apply to all search engines operating in China. The main Chinese search engines are Baidu, Haosou and Sogou.Â
