BEIJING — In its ongoing war on porn, China’s Ministry of Industry announced today that it would crack down on smartphone apps featuring adult and obscene content.
According to reports, the Communist Party-run government is going full throttle with its “clean the Internet'” campaign.
The country is encouraging companies to voluntarily remove “offensive material” — specifically mobile apps — or feel the Ministry’s wrath.
China said it is set to "enhance abilities to discover pornographic and obscene apps" and "improve the process of punishment.”
The country’s leaders believe online porn is creating a harmful effect on the country, but opponents believe it’s just another method to squash any anti-government discourse.
According to the China Internet Network Information Centre, the country represents the world’s largest population of Internet users with 83 percent using smartphones to access the web.
Reuters reported that China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd's “WeChat” — one of the most popular in China — provides a number of chat groups that "share lewd animated clips and images," according to its users.
China is also home to social networking and messaging apps from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's Laiwang, Xiaomi's Miliao, and Yixin, jointly developed by China Telecom Corp. and NetEase Inc.