Pornography is banned in China although the internet police have been struggling to keep out websites based outside China. An official announcement said that Google and Baidu, the two most-used search engines in China had failed to implement the measures prescribed by internet watchdog and were still providing links to pornographic content. The announcement also furnished the names of several online video-sharing sites and online bulletins containing undesirable postings, blogs and photographs. It said the violators would be severely punished but gave no indication of how long the campaign would last.

A Google spokesperson in China, Cui Jin, said in defence of his company that it did not post any pornographic content on its website. "If we find any violation, we will take action. So far, I haven’t seen any examples of violations," Cui said.

China boasts of the world’s largest internet user-base, some 250 million plus. The government has blocked access to several websites that it considers to be too subversive or political. It blocked the website of the New York Times on December 19, but unblocked it after a few days. The government relaxed some of its media and internet controls during the 2008 summer Olympics because it wanted to drive home the message that the games had ensured greater freedom for the people of China. As a result, it unblocked several websites, which it had barred for a long time. Websites cleared by the government included those of BBC and some human rights groups.

The Chinese foreign ministry in the past defended the government’s position by asserting that it had the right to censor illegal or unfit content as did the other countries with regard to Internet usage.