Harmful content is identified and blocked as part of a campaign to "clean up" the internet in China.
Relevant departments and online portal platforms across China dealt with 17.27 million tip-offs about illegal activities and harmful online information in October, according to statistics released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) on Monday.
While the number declined 7.8 percent compared to the previous month, it rose 23.3 percent year on year, according to the statistics.
Among them, more than 7.53 million tip-offs were processed by major commercial internet platforms, said the statistics.
Internet users in China can report illegal activities involving pornography, gambling, infringement of others' rights and rumor, and harmful online content via the 12377 hotline and other channels to participate in cyberspace governance and safeguard a clean online environment.
In March, CAC announced 9 key areas of the campaign to "clean up" China's internet in 2023. Among them are streamlining independent (unofficial) media publications, fighting manipulation in paid comments, improving the online business environment, eliminating "malicious phenomena" on the Internet, etc. The main tasks of the agency in its work are to respond more actively to the dissatisfaction of the general audience, to solve problematic issues and to develop innovative regulation.
The CAC previously said it cleaned up 54.3 million pieces of information it deemed illegal and bad in 2022 alone. The CAC announced that during 2022 it had also removed 420 mobile applications and closed more than 25,000 illegal websites. Shutdowns of live broadcast and short video platforms for pornographic or illegal content and gambling tallied 106. Developers for such platforms were blocklisted.
Source: Xinhua