The Chinese government has made arrests levied fines on Sina.com after the site reportedly published pornographic content. The move is part of China's yearly "Cleaning the Web" campaign, according to TechCrunch.
Sina had previously said in its initial public offering (IPO) filing: "Although our active user base has increased over the past several years, regulation and censorship of information disseminated over the Internet in China may adversely affect our user experience and reduce users' engagement and activities on our platform as well as adversely affect our ability to attract new users to our platform. Any and all of these adverse impacts may ultimately materially and adversely affect our business and result of operations."
As part of the punishment, two of Sina's licenses to publish online content have been revoked by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. The amount of the fine imposed, however, is still unconfirmed. An official told China's official news agency Xinhua that Sina can still appeal the decision, the report said.
The investigation comes just a couple of weeks after Sina Weibo debuted on NASDAQ. Last year, the Internet giant was also punished for a similar offense, TechCrunch reported.
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