Illustration Marianne WilsonLife & Culture / NewsLife & Culture / NewsChina are giving away £70,000 to citizens who report porn to the governmentIt’s all a part of the government’s efforts to control the internetShareLink copied ✔️December 10, 2018December 10, 2018TextKemi Alemoru China continues its crackdown on porn by upping the incentives for citizens willing to rat out their fellow man. If you find porn, you can report the content and its publisher to the authorities and earn yourself almost £70,000 (600,000 yuan). Tech in Asia reports that the scheme is in place as of December 1. Considering last year’s figures showed the countries average salary was 74,318 yuan, there are bound to be some hard up people willing to turn to porn bounty hunting. One user wrote on Weibo, a popular Chinese social media site: “I’m not going to work today. I’ll look everywhere for materials so I can report anyone who I find disagreeable. There’s money to be made in reporting, so what am I doing working myself to death?” It’s all part of the rollout of a new plan from the government’s National Office Against Pornographic and Illegal Publications department. It announced last week that this reward is part of the mission to clean up the internet. The government has previously criticised Weibo and WeChat for how the sites have allowed illegal content to circulate. In November, the writer of homoerotic fiction that had been promoted on Weibo and sold online was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Reports in the state-owned paper, the Global Times, said the writer who had gone by the pen name Tianyi had promoted “obscene sexual behaviour between males.” It also said the book was “full of perverted sexual acts like violence and abuse”. The war against porn has already seen thousands of websites taken down. However, it’s all a part of the government’s wider efforts to control the internet and the information people share online. Escape the algorithm! Get The DropEmail address SIGN UP Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday. Privacy policy Thank you. You have been subscribed Privacy policy Expand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.READ MOREIs it limerence, or is it just a crush?What went down at Elizabeth Arthotel’s 50th AnniversaryIs a new gambling trend driving us toward armageddon?The new relationship dealbreaker: using ChatGPTListen to Tilda Swinton, Mark Ronson and more on Jefferson Hack’s podcastOpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s plan to put AI inside our mindsWant to take a stand against ICE? Here’s how to minimise risk How to date when... you’re chasing your dreamsYoung people are leading a snail mail revivalGrok: Is it possible to escape getting ‘undressed’ by Elon Musk’s AI?Björk slams Trump, Denmark and colonialismA list of very serious pop culture predictions for 2026Escape the algorithm! Get The DropEmail address SIGN UP Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday. Privacy policy Thank you. You have been subscribed Privacy policy