It looks like Google has run afoul of the Chinese government:

CHINA announced today that it was cracking down on major websites, including search engine giants Google and Baidu, over the spread of pornography and other material that could corrupt young people.

China’s Ministry of Public Security and six other government agencies announced the crackdown at a meeting today, the official China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre said in a statement.

“For those websites that repeatedly ignore warnings, we will publicise a few, punish a few and even close down a few,” Cai Mingzhao, deputy chief of the cabinet’s Information Office, said in the statement.

He said some websites had taken advantage of government policies and loopholes to publish “low-class, crude and even vulgar contents, which severely corrupted the public mentality”.  [AFP]

How come I have a hard time believing this crackdown is only about pornography?