China's anti-pornography drive will include videos distributed via mobile electronic devices, officials said on Wednesday.

A special campaign was jointly launched by five departments, including the Ministry of Public Security and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, to combat distribution of porn videos via cell phones.

Public security units were ordered to step up inspection of cell phone and audio-video shops and cooperate with telecommunication authorities as part of the drive.

The campaign will last until mid-April, and the main targets are cell phone shops that provide game, music and video downloads. Pornographic videos are easy to download and store in the memories of cell phones, MP3 and MP4 players and portable gaming devices.

China has been cracking down on online porn and lewd content over the past month under a nationwide campaign. As of Tuesday, officials had blocked 1,575 porn sites and detained 41 people.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2009)