China shuts down 91 sites as porn crackdown continues

 

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By Reuters

Posted on 12 Jan 2009 at 17:56

China has shut down 91 websites for pornographic and other "vulgar" content, as well as a political blog portal, according to state media.

China's ruling Communist Party is wary of threats to its grip on information and has conducted numerous censorship efforts targeting pornography, political criticism and web scams, but officials flagged tougher steps this time.

"Ninety-one websites that included pornography and vulgar content had been closed down from January 8 to 10," the state-run web portal China.com.cn claims.

Bullog.cn, a Chinese blog portal with many famous bloggers, including signatories of the pro-democracy "08 Charter," has been inaccessible since Friday.

Luo Yonghao, the founder of Bullog.cn, confirmed on his own blog that the website had been closed because of the "amount of political harmful information," citing a notice from Government.

The "08 Charter" calls for freedom of expression and open elections.

China's latest crackdown on internet content targeted many big names, including Google, Microsoft's MSN and homegrown market-leading rival Baidu, for undermining public morality.

None of the big names was on the list of 91.