China shuts 128,000 ‘harmful’ websites in 2017: state media
Announcement comes as the authorities tighten control of content on the internet, amid already routine censorship of the media
China shut as many as 128,000 websites that contained obscene and other “harmful” information in 2017, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported late on Monday, citing government data.
Xinhua said 30.9 million illegal publications were confiscated over the course of the year, while 1,900 people were subject to criminal penalties, according to figures from the national office in charge of combating pornography and illegal publications.
China has been tightening controls over internet content as part of efforts to maintain “social stability”, taking on “vulgar” and pornographic content as well as the unauthorised dissemination of news.
Major websites run by Tencent, Baidu and Weibo were reprimanded and fined last year by China’s internet regulator for failing to properly censor content ahead of a major conference of the Chinese Communist Party.
On December 29, cyberoverseers in Beijing shut down China’s most popular news app, Jinri Toutiao, for 24 hours, over alleged breaches of regulations and for spreading “pornographic and vulgar content”.