The National Office Against Pornography and Illegal Publications announced on its official micro blog that it has commenced a nationwide inspection and cleanup campaign against violent and pornographic cartoons, in order to ensure a clean and healthy cultural environment.

These cult videos that feature look-alike, well-known cartoon characters first appeared on foreign video websites such as YouTube. There was outrage from some Chinese internet users when these videos also began appearing on domestic video websites recently.

According to the document released by the office, the websites are responsible for removing the videos. Any company that fails to fulfill its corporate responsibility and continues to post such videos will be severely punished. Chinese major domestic video companies, including Tencent video, iQIYI and Youku, have all announced that they have already started the cleanup work.