Anti-porn watchdog to revoke Sina internet portal's licences over 'erotic' content

China’s anti-pornography authorities say they plan to revoke licences owned by Sina.com, a massive portal run by internet giant Sina Corp, in what observers say is a surprisingly harsh move.

Shares in the Nasdaq-listed company fell more than 7 per cent when the market opened but rose slightly to hit US$50.6 just before noon.

The joint co-ordinating body against obscenity said it found 20 “pornographic and erotic” e-books on Sina.com’s reading channel along with four pornographic audio-visual programmes in its channel for user-generated videos.

The authorities also said they would impose a fine of up to 10 times the profit Nasdaq-listed Sina Corp gained from the alleged smut.

Several suspects, their numbers unknown, were also placed under the Beijing police’s custody for investigation, the watchdog said. It was not immediately clear if the suspects were Sina.com users or employees, or what charges they would face.

Sina.com, widely seen as the Chinese equivalent of Yahoo, offers various kinds of content including news, videos and an e-commerce service.

In a statement delivered to Sina Corp, the authorities said they planned to cancel Sina’s Internet Publication Permit and Online Audio-Video Programme Licence, The Beijing News says. It did not say when the licences would be revoked.