China shuts down 128,000 harmful websites in 2017

China dealt with 10,300 pornography and illegal publication cases in 2017, the national office for the fight against pornography and illegal publications said Monday.

More than 128,000 websites were shut down for containing obscene and other harmful information. More than 4.55 million posts deleted, while 30.9 million illegal publications were confiscated.

The office received 121,000 reports from the public, which helped in a large number of major cases.

The office also worked with the departments of public security and copyright in 147 major cases.

The office had also worked with other central authorities to carry out four rounds of inspections and seven rounds of secret inspections, discovering more than 560 problems, which they had asked local authorities to solve. More than 900 criminal cases were investigated, with 1,900 people receiving criminal penalties.

The office also made public 10 major cases investigated last year, including the "Langyou" live streaming platform, which sold pornographic content to about 170,000 registered users, making more than 10 million yuan in illegal gains between April and July 12 last year, through its mobile application, which featured female hosts in obscene performances.

Another case involved two main suspects conducting fraudulent ghostwriting as editors of renowned academic journals, who sent out fake publishing notifications via their online store. About 120 million yuan was involved in the case.

Source: Xinhua

Editor: dora