China’s nearly yearlong crackdown on violent and Adult-only games and other “objectionable” online content has produced the closure of 1,600 Internet cafes between February and August and millions in fines for letting kids play such games, according to Chinese state-controlled media.
Xinhua, the state news agency, reported 18,000 out of 1.8 million cybercafes inspected were ordered to stop operating “for rectification,” citing comments from the Communist country’s Culture Ministry market department.
“Porn, gambling, violence, and similar problems have adversely affected the healthy development of the Internet in China,” Xinhua quoted the department’s deputy minister, Zhang Xinjian, as saying last week.
In July, China launched a porn-specific crackdown on the Internet, though many believe that crackdown is also aimed as a kind of shield against political freedom in cyberspace, with reports of Chinese dissidents online facing state harassment and even prosecution while the government proceeds with its porn crackdown.
