China launches fresh crackdown on online pornography, fake news organisations

A Chinese official said on Monday that his country has launched a fresh month-long crackdown on online pornography and fake news organisations in 11 provincial-level regions to clean up “harmful” information. Four teams of inspectors are handling the probe into online pornography and fake news organisations across 11 Chinese provincial-level regions.

The month-long investigation, which will finish on May 26, aims to clean up “harmful” information online, targeting live-streaming, cloud service providers, mobile apps and websites circulating pornographic content, the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications said in a statement.

Inspectors are also given the task of looking into news blackmailing, fake news, journalists and media organisations, it said. The investigation has been jointly launched by China’s various anti-pornography, publicity and Internet-related authorities, and is being carried out in areas including Beijing and Shanghai municipalities, along with provinces of Guizhou, Jiangxi and Shaanxi, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. 

With PTI inputs