Baidu, a Chinese search giant, on Wednesday denied the allegations against it due to an internal data breach after a top executive's teenage daughter posted personal details of other internet users online, sparking a controversy.

Baidu, one of China's largest cloud service providers, was thrust into the spotlight last week after online users accused the teenage daughter of Baidu vice president Xie Guangjun of posting sensitive information of other users such as their phone numbers after getting into an online argument.

Baidu stated that all the employees and executives irrespective of their position were forbidden from accessing users' data, and the information posted by the teenager originated from illegally obtained "doxing databases" on foreign platforms, which contained stolen private data.

Adding to the above, Baidu also stated that it has reported the false information circulating online to the police, including the claims that the teenager had admitted that her father had provided her with database access, as the controversy over the incident continued to swell.

As per the reports, Xie, who is part of Baidu's cloud division, on Monday apologized for his daughter's behavior, saying she had obtained the information from overseas social networking sites, in a post he had made to his personal WeChat feed.

 

Xie did not immediately respond to requests for comment via Baidu and his LinkedIn profile.

 

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China, in recent years has introduced comprehensive data laws and tightened restrictions on the sharing of private data, amid the rise of shadowy online data sellers that buy and sell personal details such as birth dates, car and home ownership.

Shares in Baidu fell more than 4% in Hong Kong trading on Thursday morning.