Mainland telecommunications operators and regulators have expressed concern over a flood of pornography on Chinese Web sites, including the Li Ka-shing-controlled Tom.com.
An industry source said that mobile operators had told Web sites to 'clean up' their risque content, which is used principally as downloads for mobile phones and has proved an unexpected profit driver for mainland portals.
Many portals have rushed to satisfy demand for racy content but Tom.com's offering is noted for pushing taste boundaries. 'The content on its [Tom.com] Web site is bordering on being pornographic, and the mobile operators wanted [Tom.com] to do something about it,' the source said.
A commentary in the People's Daily web site last week, titled 'Chinese Internet - calling for a crackdown of pornography', said obscene content had become a core business for many portals.
'What is Internet pornography? It is the delivery of messages based on sex and nude bodies, through the means of words, sound, graphic, pictures or comics,' intoned the official mouthpiece.
'We can look at Tom.com's Erotic Jokes; Sohu's Magic Baby; NetEase's Unconventional Male and Female; Sina's Flying Male and Female, much of their content totally falls under the category of Internet pornography. We used to only see such content on foreign websites,' the paper said.