BEIJING - Chinese authorities have shut down 225 micro blog accounts and punished the owners of 154 websites for spreading lewd content, in the latest effort to cleanse the Internet environment.

Among these sites, some that were set up without official approval have already been closed, and others, which are being operated with a license, were ordered to erase all obscene content, according to a statement released Monday by the State Internet Information Office.

Most of the micro blogs that were deleted were from weibo.com and t.qq.com, two major Twitter-like services in the country.

"The office has urged various local governments to fulfil their duty in strengthening the supervision on websites and, especially, microblog services that are registered in their region," said the statement.

According to the office, the move is a result of investigations based on tips from public whistleblowers, and further efforts will be made to crack down on the spread of pornography through the Internet and mobile phones.