Beijing's Internet watchdog has accused 12 dating websites of
being a cover for prostitution and has ordered them to clean up
their act by next Friday.
"The outrageous pimping content in some websites is very
shocking," said a statement of the Beijing Online News and
Information Panel, an Internet watchdog made up by government
officials, experts and representatives of netizens.
The 12 dating websites are loaded with detailed information on
the sex trade, including "service items, pricing and contact
information," said the statement.
Sexually-explicit information makes up more than 95 percent of
the websites' content, according to the statement.
The panel has ordered a complete purge of such information from
the websites by June 1.
One of the websites, which purports to be a lonely-hearts dating
service, contained a posting supposedly from a young woman with a
fair complex who describes herself as a "professional pleasure
giver".
The website appears to have erased all postings prior to early
Sunday morning. It contained only 11 postings under the link 'women
seeking men' and none under 'men seeking women'.
Another website on the list requires patrons to create an
account with their personal information before being allowed to log
on.
The panel also accused the websites of promoting the more
obvious postings relating to sex services by marking them with
icons.
"Aiding and abetting the spread of prostitution information in
pursuit of higher hit rate may be against the law," said Min
Dahong, director of the panel.
(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2007)