China issues warning to web search engines over pornography

Published on Monday 5 January 2009 21:05

CHINA warned Google and other popular web portals yesterday that they must do more to block pornographic material, the latest in a series of government crackdowns targeting internet content.

The move is part of a larger Chinese effort to control freedom of expression and root out material it considers destabilising, such as sites that criticise the Communist Party, promote democratic reform or advocate Taiwan independence.

The government accused Google and Baidu, China's two most heavily-used search engines, of failing to take "efficient" measures after receiving notices from the country's internet watchdog that they were providing links to pornographic material.

Google, however, has insisted that it abides by Chinese law and does not generate pornographic content.

Officials also criticised web portals Sina and Sohu, as well as a number of video-sharing sites and popular online bulletin boards such as Tianya, that it said contain problematic photographs, blogs and postings.

Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei.org, a website that covers Chinese media issues, said such campaigns happen regularly in China to keep internet sites in line with the government. Mentioning Google and Baidu is meant to send a strong message to the whole industry.

"The fact that they rapped every major website on the knuckles is sending a message out to be on their best behaviour," he said.

Charles Freeman, a China specialist at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the pornography issue was a "stalking horse" for the Chinese government.

He said 2009 was a "very sensitive year politically in China," noting it was 50 years since the Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a failed uprising, 30 years after the Democracy Wall movement, and 20 years after the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.

In the past, the foreign ministry has defended China's right to censor websites that have material deemed illegal by the government, saying that other countries also regulate internet usage.

It was unclear what the government classifies as pornographic.

However, sexually explicit pictures were still appearing on online portals yesterday, including pictures of the actress Zhang Ziyi sunbathing on a beach topless.

The government said seven agencies would work together on the campaign to "purify the internet's cultural environment and protect the healthy development of minors".

A government statement, said violators would be severely punished, but did not give further details.

A Google spokeswoman in China, Cui Jin, defended the site's operations, saying it was a search engine and did not generate any pornographic content.

The company obeyed Chinese law, she said. "If we find any violation, we will take action. So far, I haven't seen any examples of violations."

China has the world's largest population of internet users with more than 250 million, and China's attitude to love and sex has changed markedly since it was denounced as a bourgeois decadence under Mao Zedong, a by-product of rising prosperity and looser restrictions on private life.

BACKGROUND

PORNOGRAPHY is banned in China but is widely available on and off the internet. Popular Chinese web portals often show explicit pictures and provide links to pornographic websites.

Beijing loosened some internet controls during the Olympic Games – gestures meant to show the world that the Games had brought greater freedom to the Chinese people.

The government blocked the New York Times website in December, reopening it a couple of days later.

The Chinese government remains wary of losing its control over the internet, which it fears could be used for organised opposition to communist rule. Last month more than 300 lawyers, writers, scholars and artists called for a new constitution guaranteeing human rights.