Beijing's Internet watchdog has accused 12 dating websites of being a cover for prostitution and has ordered them to clean up their act by next Friday.

 

"The outrageous pimping content in some websites is very shocking," said a statement of the Beijing Online News and Information Panel, an Internet watchdog made up by government officials, experts and representatives of netizens.

 

The 12 dating websites are loaded with detailed information on the sex trade, including "service items, pricing and contact information," said the statement.

 

Sexually-explicit information makes up more than 95 percent of the websites' content, according to the statement.

 

The panel has ordered a complete purge of such information from the websites by June 1.

 

One of the websites, which purports to be a lonely-hearts dating service, contained a posting supposedly from a young woman with a fair complex who describes herself as a "professional pleasure giver".

 

The website appears to have erased all postings prior to early Sunday morning. It contained only 11 postings under the link 'women seeking men' and none under 'men seeking women'.

 

Another website on the list requires patrons to create an account with their personal information before being allowed to log on.

 

The panel also accused the websites of promoting the more obvious postings relating to sex services by marking them with icons.

 

"Aiding and abetting the spread of prostitution information in pursuit of higher hit rate may be against the law," said Min Dahong, director of the panel.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2007)