China has named and shamed another17 Web sites as part of a month long drive to stamp out online porn.

The websites were accused of providing obscene content and of being slow to delete erotic materials after the campaign was launched on January 5 by the State Council's Information Office, Public Security and Culture ministries and four other government agencies.

The sites, including www.xiaonei.com, www.9you.com, were urged to immediately delete obscene or erotic information and were threatened with closure if they ignore the warning made on Tuesday.

Public distribution of pornography is illegal in China. Previously, the country had blacklisted 33 websites, including search engine Google and Baidu and MSN China. Ninety-one other websites have been shut down.

China's Internet users hit 298 million in 2008, overtaking the United States as the nation with the world's largest online population, according to latest figures released by the China Internet Network Information Center.

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2009)