China launches campaign to crack down on porn

A campaign has been launched against pornography in online game advertisements, mobile systems applications and online media players, the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications said Tuesday.

The office said the campaign, named "cleaning the web," will also focus on online literature, fora, microblogs, social network services, search engines and realtime communications groups among other areas.

Computers and mobile phone dealers and repair shops that provide pornographic material to clients will also be punished, the office said in a statement.

Online pornography has become more secluded in recent years in China, said an unidentified official from the office, adding that the campaign will resolutely investigate and punish those people who stay in the country but run network servers abroad.

The office hopes netizens will help in the campaign by providing information about online pornography. The campaign will last until May.