BEIJING, China - Once again, China is in full crackdown mode against pornography and political dissent on the Internet.
Global news organizations such as the BBC, Reuters, CNET, Global American Media and many others report that earlier this week, the Chinese government launched a new campaign to eliminate content it called "unhealthy, vulgar and pornographic."
The government published a list of 19 targeted websites, which included Google China and that nation's top search engine, Baidu. Another website on the list, Tianya, is known for espousing political views counter to government agenda.
Baidu has already apologized on its website, stating, "We feel deeply guilty." NetEase.com, said to be China's second most popular online game site, and SINA Corp. both also released public apologies. Google China did not apologize, but did issue a statement promising "work hard" and that it will "clean up links to vulgar content."
The campaign, run by seven government agencies, said it has "a duty to protect public morality."
"We will continue to expose, punish or close down websites that have a lot of vulgar content," said Chinese official Cai Mingzhao on national television.
Reuters reports that despite government censorship, China has the largest amount of online users of any nation--more than 250 million people--and that adults, and even teens, are still able to access adult material.
