Chinese authorities recently cracked an online pornography case in Jiangsu Province, eastern China, where websites colluded with illegal advertising platforms to disseminate pornography and trade in the private details of citizens.
The investigative team seized 50 suspects, and destroyed 118 websites and 913 online billboards, according to the Ministry of Public Security and the National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications, which jointly led the campaign.
A spokesperson with the office said porn websites teaming up with advertising platforms to make money had become a major form of online crime in recent years.
"The advertisements popping up on computer screens are linked to porn websites, attracting high click-through rates and making huge profits for the ad platforms, which in turn pay the websites to sustain their operations," the spokesperson said.
Future crackdown campaigns will focus on uprooting the "soil" that sustains porn websites, including online ad agencies and third-party payment platforms, the spokesperson added.
The office is currently leading a nationwide campaign to purify the online environment that will last from March to November this year.
