Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group announced to set up a committee to investigate sexual harassment complaints of their employees, according to an internal letter on Thursday.

The committee will initially comprise of five female senior executives, the letter – also published on Alibaba's social media accounts – stated. 

The company's move comes after it fired the manager accused of sexual assault. However, netizens criticized the company for not acting until the victim went public.

On August 8, a female employee went public with an 11-page account on Alibaba's intranet accusing her manager and a client of sexually assaulting her. The victim also lambasted her superiors and human resources for not taking her report seriously. The social media post about the incident went viral, triggering a massive backlash on Chinese social media.

Read more: Alibaba under social media storm after female employee alleges sexual assault

Facing public outcry, the company said in the letter that it will set up the Alibaba Group Committee on Workplace Environment, which will be the decision-making body for matters related to but not limited to sexual harassment prevention and will report directly to its board of directors.

The letter also stated that Alibaba is updating its corporate rule books to ensure "zero tolerance" towards sexual harassment. It has also set up a special team to check inappropriate" workplace behavior, such as "forced drinking" and "vulgar jokes." 

(With input from Reuters)