China steps up crackdown on harmful, illegal content

BEIJING, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- China investigated and handled over 13,000 cases related to online and offline activities involving vulgar content and illegal publications in 2021, according to official statistics.

Last year, authorities nationwide confiscated around 15 million illegal publications, including 3.8 million illegal, harmful publications for children and pirated textbooks and study reference books, said the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications on Monday.

In the meantime, around 19 million items of harmful information containing pornographic or vulgar content were cleared up, the office said.

Chinese authorities also shut down more than 110,000 illegal websites in a national campaign on cyberspace clean-up in 2021, it said. The campaign has targeted harmful information in areas of live streaming, online games and literature, social networks, and pop-up ads.

According to the office, a total of 700 million yuan (about 110 million U.S. dollars) was involved in a criminal case related to the production and sale of illegal publications. The case, which was busted in east China's Shandong Province and saw 50 suspects arrested, is China's biggest case in terms of the amount of money involved in recent years, it added.