China probes 862 cases of online pornography

Chinese authorities have investigated and cracked down on 862 cases involving online pornography in the country during a special campaign to clean the Internet since April.

The National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications on Friday publicized 8 typical criminal cases on spreading pornographic content online, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

The cases involved individuals or criminal gangs spreading pornographic content to earn profit through online platforms such as QQ and WeChat.

According to the antipornography office, a gang of 15 suspects was arrested in Kunshan, East China’s Jiangsu Province in September for selling pornographic videos through WeChat and earning more than 400,000 yuan ($57,000).

Twelve people were arrested in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province for organizing more than 60 pornographic performances in QQ.

Meanwhile, the office also publicized four typical administrative punishment cases involving news platforms Tout- iao, Yidian, Sina News and NetEase News, which were found to be distributing banned or pornographic content online, according to Xinhua.

More than 3.27 million pieces of “harmful information,” including those deemed “erotic,” had been deleted as of November, according to a statement from the anti-pornography office.