Crackdown closes 8,600 Internet cafes

China has shut down 8,600 Internet cafes since it launched a campaign in February aimed at preventing under-age users from accessing the Internet and reducing subversive material and pornography available on the Web, according to the Ministry of Culture. The campaign is part of a broader media control reconsolidation initiative led by the Department of Propaganda since last October. Mainland Internet users increased to 79.5 million in December 2003 from 59.1 million a year ealier.