Asia Tech Wire (May 20) -- Baidu's senior vice president Victor Liang has taken over the PR business temporarily, according to Chinese media reports, following the departure of former vice president of public relations Qu Jing, who left the company after controversial comments caused backlash.

In early May, Qu, who was head of Huawei's China Media Affairs Department, put herself and Baidu in the middle of a public outcry over controversial comments she made in short videos she posted on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

It's unclear whether Liang is taking over temporarily to find the next PR chief or officially taking over.

In response, Baidu said Monday that Liang had been in charge of the company's government relations (GR) and public relations (PR) business, and that Qu reported to him before she left the company.

Victor Liang joined Baidu in June 2005, served as assistant to the CEO from early 2013 to February 2018, and in October 2021 became chairman of Baidu's data management committee.