A New York federal judge has dismissed a complaint alleging Baidu Inc., operator of China’s leading Internet search engine, violated the civil rights of pro-democracy activists by blocking their writings, videos and other media from its U.S. search results.
Judge Jesse Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled Thursday in Zhang v. Baidu.Com Inc. that the First Amendment protected Baidu’s right to control how and what search results were presented to its users. He noted that media companies enjoyed a similar right to control their editorial content.
