Two Chinese internet companies fined

Two Chinese internet companies have been fined for spreading pornographic and harmful information on their platforms, China's top office against pornography said on Thursday.

Baidu, the country's largest searching engine, and Damai, an online ticketing platform, were respectively ordered to pay 20,000 yuan ($2,954) and 50,000 yuan ($7,380) in fines for their misconduct, according to the National Office against Pornographic and Illegal Publications.

The office said it found that pornographic comics encouraging young people to commit crimes were spreading on a Baidu forum between April 2014 and January.

It added that it also found that Damai promoted illegal and harmful publications on one of its online channels from November 2018 to January.

The comics on Baidu have been removed and the forum has been closed, while Damai has also rectified their mistake and deleted the problematic content, the authority said.

Data released by the office in January showed that authorities last year deleted about 6.18 million online posts containing pornographic and vulgar information, and closed 26,000 illegal websites.