From: Reuters / Yahoo! Tech —

The Chinese government has launched a New Year’s crackdown against Web sites it says threaten morals by spreading pornography and vulgarity. Prominent among the primary offenders were global Internet giant Google and Chinese Web search leader Baidu. There was no official comment, as of this post, from Google.

As The Reuters News service reports, at Yahoo! Tech, those organizations targeted for raids and confiscation of equipment had been told by the government to remove or block content that Chinese officials found objectionable but, “the 19 Internet operators and Web sites named had failed to swiftly cut ‘vulgar’ content and had not heeded warnings from censors.”

This is just the latest crackdown by Chinese officials on foreign Internet companies operating in China and on Internet content coming into the country:

“China’s ruling Communist Party is wary of threats to its grip on information and has launched many such censorship efforts before, targeting pornography, political criticism and web scams. But officials flagged tougher steps this time. … The campaign also coincides with Communist Party efforts to stifle dissent and protest as the economy slows and as China enters a year of sensitive anniversaries, especially the 20th year since the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in 1989.”

Other media reports suggest that the Chinese government is also upgrading its Internet filters, to catch even more content the government deems unfit for Chinese eyes and ears.