Nearly 1.8 million accounts across China's cyber sphere were closed recently as Beijing continues to ramp up its crackdown on online pornography.

According to the state-run Xinhua News Agency, China's Cyberspace Administration is targeting microblogs, the smart phone app WeChat, and the instant messaging service QQ, along with search engine giant Baidu for what authorities are calling "improper content."

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Online police are also focused on shuttering sites showing pornographic images or those used to solicit prostitution via the Internet. Online gambling sites are also under pressure to fold.

Beijing began this most recent crusade last April, and  it is part of Chinese president Xi Jinping's conservative backlash against what has been seen by the governing Communist Party as a growing decadence in the Middle Kingdom's societal mores as the country grows more moneyed and affluent. Earlier this year, he demanded the Chinese entertainment community join him in curing the country of what he called "social ills."

Online opinion must be properly guided and slander eliminated, while the Internet should be used solely to spread "mainstream values and positive energy," Xi said.

The move comes even as Xi urged China's technology sector to further develop online technology and security. To be a cyber-power, Xi said, China must have "its own technology" that is cutting edge and comparable to Silicon Valley.

Mobile messaging apps, which are a part of China's growing technological advancement, are hugely popular in China. Tencent Holding Ltd's WeChat is among the biggest with more than 300 million users.

And with 618 million Internet users out of a total population of 1.3 billion, China has the largest online community in the world. 

Many of the accounts caught up in the sweep were shut down by the companies owning the apps themselves after public complaints, Xinhua said. There was no immediate comment from any of the companies involved.

TagsQQ, Pornography