The government on Monday accused leading search engines and web portals of carrying pornographic and vulgar content, in the latest crackdown on internet firms in China, the Financial Times reported. While it is common for Beijing to launch internet censorship campaigns, the latest crackdown is the first to target industry heavyweights such as Google and Baidu. The 19 websites cited by the government also included Sina, Sohu, Tencent and NetEase, which are some of China’s most popular sites. By contrast, the last crackdown on unhealthy internet content about one year ago targeted only small and little-known websites. The move comes as China’s political leadership faces a growing number of challenges to its authority, many of which have been organized via the internet, the paper said.
Categories