China will set a long-term mechanism to clean up online blackmail and post deletion for profit following a recent large-scale campaign on these illegal practices, said the nation's top Internet regulator on Thursday.
According to a statement from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), China will continue investigating practices of online blackmail and post deletion for profit. The administration will also set up a system to receive tip-offs and publish information on illegal websites regularly.
The CAC has been encouraging the public to report cyber violations. It promised prompt response, personal privacy protection as well as financial rewards.
The statement also said that authorities will help and instruct victims suffered from illegal practices to reject online blackmail and post deletion profiteering. A regulation on cracking down on these illegal practices will be released.
A database will also be established to record illegal websites and accounts. It will list illegal acts to provide evidence for law enforcement and supervision.
China's campaign targeting online information violations, including fake news and blackmail has been ongoing since January.
Nearly 300 illegal websites have been shut down while over 1 million social media accounts have been closed. More than 9 million pieces of bad information have been deleted and nearly 50 local news websites were shut down.
More than 9,000 search keywords on commercial websites such as Baidu and over 3 million relevant links were also blocked.
The CAC released a regulation in April which says that the regulator has the right to summon senior executives of Internet companies when they fail to remove unhealthy materials. The watchdog has met with executives of 136 websites to date.
Efforts to combat online blackmail and deleting posts for money will continue, said the CAC.
