CHINA - Authorities in China shut down 25 websites for not having licenses, penalized 32 sites for infractions and referred five cases to another department for follow-up on Friday.
This week, China mounted a crackdown on websites that violated a new law against featuring online audio and video without permits.
China requires video-streaming companies to obtain a state license and avoid airing clips that might inspire fear, contain pornography or endanger national security. The nation's definition of "endangering national security" includes showing video clips of Chinese unrest.
The rule includes concessions for established and popular companies.
Strict enforcement was not expected when the government instituted the law in January, and many sites never obtained the state license.
China, which now has the world's largest Internet-using population, is seeking greater control over the new medium and has even begun requiring Internet café registration.
Regulations designed in 2007 to make bloggers register their real names with the government were abandoned in the face of popular protest.
