Apple's App store a target in porn site investigation

Local authorities have investigated 198 websites containing pornographic content over the past month, including Apple's App store, according to the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications, the Xinhua News Agency reported Wednesday.

Of the 198 websites, 21 were closed down and 175 were ordered to delete pornographic content, while two websites, anzhi.com and neng.com, were sent to police for investigation. The managers of these websites were warned and ordered to delete the illegal content and improve management, it said.

From March to May, the country is carrying out a campaign to regulate online words, games and videos, in a bid to crack down on pornographic content from flooding the Internet.

In the past month, Beijing investigated and closed seven websites, giving 25 companies administrative punishments, and 62 websites, including Apple's App store, were ordered to delete pornographic content.

Jiangsu Province closed down six websites, and ordered 26 websites to delete pornographic content, and Zhejiang ordered 18 websites to delete their information.

On Monday, the official website of the office released information on 10 major cases of pirating and selling pornographic publications in 2011 and 2012.