Following its inspection, conducted in April and May, Sarft has ordered the shutdown eight video-sharing sites and cited 20 others for broadcasting prohibited videos, which includes violent, pornographic and politically sensitive material.
The eight sites ordered to shut down are 1t57.com, Xiaoyaozhe.com, Aikfilm.com, Topdy99.com, Mov2088.com, 0817info.com, Wmood.com and 5show.com.
Sarft conducted its first round of inspections earlier this year and reportedly issued popular website Tudou.com a shutdown warrant. However, sources close to Tudou say that not only has Tudou evaded Sarft’s current shut-down list, but it is not on its list of 20 errant sites.
According to Kaiser Kuo, group director of digital strategy at Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing, the fact that Sarft has not cited any of China’s top video-sharing sites is an optimistic sign they will continue to operate without interruption.
“This certainly is reasonably more positive [than in the first round of inspections] but we’re not out of the woods yet,” he said, adding that Sarft has not issued video licenses to any site yet.
Victor Koo, CEO of video-sharing website YouKu.com, said Sarft has a duty to police video-sharing sites in order to “create an environment that is appropriate and safe for online advertisers and agencies.”
“They’re helping the industry differentiate between websites that are safe and appropriate and those that are not, and agencies that are warned should be wary of the appropriateness of their content,” he said.
