Beijing's transport commission unveiled its WeChat account to reach more people who seek the group's services. (Photo : Reuters)
China is banning sexually explicit pictures and content on WeChat as part of the Chinese government's effort in cleaning up the Internet.
The new guidelines, which were issued by China's Internet regulator on Wednesday, state that unacceptable content will be met with punishment.
The Cyberspace Administration of China is banning not only vulgar photos and videos, but also any animation deemed erotic, including any text containing stories of sexual abuse, one-night stands, wife swapping, threesomes, gangbangs and any other similar content.
Accounts that are found guilty of disseminating the said vulgar content through WeChat will be banned for seven days on the first offense, according to Deccan Chronicle. Public accounts with four repeating offenses will be permanently banned, no questions asked.
In addition, advertisements for illegal products related to sexual activities are also banned. Drug ads for sexually transmitted diseases are also being banned by the CAC, as well as voyeuristic and leaked pictures.
The fight against pornographic content is not exclusive to China. Recently, tech giant Google and news aggregator Reddit have taken measures to crack down on sexually explicit on their web services.
Tencent boasts around 500 million registered users on its popular messaging app WeChat, with around 80 percent located in China, according to Engadget.
China has been long criticized about its policies on the Internet, especially with its so-called Great Firewall, which censors certain websites that are deemed unsafe by the Chinese government.
Web users in the country have depended on proxy web services, but China was recently reported to have been cracking down on VPNs as well.
