The Chinese government has taken a clear stance against websites that spread pornographic material in all forms, whether text, pictures, or videos, according to a recent announcement by Chinese officials. Websites such as Google, Baidu, but also Sina, Sohu, Netease and others, are mentioned on the blacklist released by the Ministry of Public Security.
The websites, Chinese authorities say, have failed to comply with the notifications and regulations regarding Internet pornography, therefore failing to comply with the Chinese law.
China has been implementing an increasing number of restrictions on websites, and in 2007 alone, they shut down 44,000 porn websites, and arrested 868 people, in what the government called an anti-pornography campaign.
China has one of the most restrictive Internet policies in the world and a monitoring organism is permanently on stand-by, ready to take action against anything that doesn’t comply with the Chinese law.
The “cleaning campaign” includes banning all messages, whether text, audio or video, sexually suggestive, including ads, as well as sites that promote violence, religious cults or unveil national secrets. As of January 31, 2008, Chinese authorities limited the broadcasting of Internet videos to sites ran by the government, in order to avoid any content that could alter the minds of Internet users from being broadcasted.
The authorities’ explanation for the porn-hunt is very simple: pornography perverts the minds of young people.
The tight restrictions make it hard even for foreign companies, such as Google, to consolidate a position on the Chinese market. According to the Ministry of Public Security, Google and the other websites failed to remove the vulgar content when notified.
Despite the tight regulations and censorship, and the government’s campaign to put a stop to social instability created by uncontrolled Internet access, China’s Internet population surpassed that of the United States in 2008.
