Netease accused of rumormongering, unlawful reporting, pornography

NetEase's logo is seen in Shanghai in this 2011 file photo. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

China's Internet watchdog on Monday accused Netease, a major web portal, of providing unlawful reporting services, spreading pornography and rumormongering that violated relevant regulations.

The regulator, Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), issued a statement late on Monday in which it urged Netease to rectify such problems and strengthen internal management, or would see its certification to provide online news services revoked.

According to the statement, Netease said it would actively strive to spread positive energy and provide news services.

The Beijing branch of CAC also called in persons in charge of Sina, Sohu, Baidu and Hexun, all major web portals in China.

CAC said web portals were the key targets of its management of the Internet in recent days and welcomed Internet users to continue to supervise portals such as Sina, Sohu, Netease, Tencent and ifeng, and submit details of their problems to the authorities.

"Some websites take a lax attitudes towards the content published for the sake of profit and sometimes spread pornography, vulgar content and bad information, which has disrupted the orderly flow of online information and damaged the public interest," said the statement.