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A month-long campaign has been launched against websites that "spread pornography and threaten the morals of young people", the government said yesterday.

The campaign, whose targets include Google and Baidu, is being run by the Ministry of Public Security and six other central agencies, a statement posted on the government's website said.

Cai Mingzhao, deputy director of the Information Office of the State Council, said in the statement: "These websites violate public morality and harm the physical and mental health of young people."

Huang Chengqing, deputy secretary-general of the Internet Society of China, said: "Pornography is banned in China and websites that feature erotic content are morally offensive."

Google and Baidu, the most popular search engines in China, failed to take "efficient" measures after receiving notices from the Internet watchdog that they were providing links to pornographic material, the statement said.

Web portals Sina and Sohu, and a number of video sharing sites and bulletin boards were also said to have "problematic photos, blogs and postings".

Cui Jin, a public relations official for Google China said "finger pointing should differentiate between the producers and non-producers of pornographic materials".

"Google does not produce nor own any content or websites," she said.

The firm has always abided by local laws and will delete links to sites if we are told they contain illegal content, she said.

"We have also adopted 'safe search' as the default setting, which automatically blocks sites with such content," she said.

Questions:

1. How long will the campaign last for that targets websites that spread pornography and threaten the morals of youngsters?

2. Which two major search engines were mentioned in the report?

Answers:

1. One month.

2. Google and Baidu.

（英语点津 Helen 编辑）

Brendan joined The China Daily in 2007 as a language polisher in the Language Tips Department, where he writes a regular column for Chinese English Language learners, reads audio news for listeners and anchors the weekly video news in addition to assisting with on location stories. Elsewhere he writes Op’Ed pieces with a China focus that feature in the Daily’s Website opinion section.

He received his B.A. and Post Grad Dip from Curtin University in 1997 and his Masters in Community Development and Management from Charles Darwin University in 2003. He has taught in Japan, England, Australia and most recently China. His articles have featured in the Bangkok Post, The Taipei Times, The Asia News Network and in-flight magazines.