China Launches Porn Crackdown (Again), Sina Gets Called Out (Again), Apologizes (Again), Loses Licenses (That's A First)
On April 21, 2014, the state sponsored Global Times published an article entitled “ Chinese Websites Vow No Porn .” Some excerpts: Major Chinese websites have vowed not to attempt to exploit pornographic content to boost their click rates, amid a national crackdown on online pornography. The websites, including 15 affiliated to state news organizations, and six commercial websites such as sina.com, qq.com and baidu.com pledged support for the crackdown at a conference held by the State Internet Information Office (SIIO) on Monday. On April 24, Xinhua published an article entitled “ China's Sina.com Hit by Ban After Porn Offense .” Some excerpt: China's Internet giant Sina.com will be stripped of its online publication license, a penalty that might partially ban its operations, after articles and videos on the site fell prey to the country's high-profile anti-porn movement. According to a statement released on Thursday by the National Office Against Pornographic and Il