The Chinese government announced its decision to start a month-long anti-porn campaign.

According to the government’s request, Web sites such as Google.com, QQ.com, Sohu.com, Netease.com, Baidu.com and Sina.com will have to find new ways of blocking pornography from leaking into the country. 13 other Web sites have been included in the request for better filtering the sexual content.

Apparently, the pages that fail to live up to the tasks will be either punished or simply shut down, as this issue is considered extremely important in China. The Web sites will receive help from the Ministry of Public Security and six other agencies which have announced that they are working together "to purify the Internet's cultural environment and protect the healthy development of minors."

Google is the country’s second most popular search engine after Baidu. The company, which is the only US-based one on the list, was presented as being unwilling to address the matter. "Searching for images results in an enormous number of vulgar, pornographic sites. Google, receiving notice, did not undertake any effective measures," noted the authorities.

Google responded almost immediately, saying that the company has "clear policies to protect freedom of expression while not allowing illegal content on our sites in China and elsewhere around the world." The search engine uses an automatic filter to block out adult material and the content that manages to slip through is usually flagged by the users and deleted later. The company’s officials explained that they do not proactively censor the pornographic search results, as the measures taken everywhere else should also be sufficient for China.