The Chinese government's intensified campaign against recruitment and brainwashing by terror groups is going online, with the pledge of a reward for any online terrorist tipoff.

The official Xinhua news agency has reported that the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has offered cash reward to people who report online terrorist content.

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The reward can go as much as Rmb100,000 (US$15,221) for each tip off, depending on the value of the information, Xinhua added.

"The Internet has become a channel for terrorists to spread extremist religious ideas, provoke ethnic conflicts and advocate separatism," an unnamed source from (CAC) was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

The offer to reward online terrorist tipoff came as China admits that microblogs and instant messaging services, such as Weibo and WeiChat, have been used by terrorists to brainwash young women and children to support terror groups and activities.

The CAC has not officially issued a statement regarding the reported reward system for online terrorist tip-offs.

According to the Xinhua report, the center's online drive received more than 20,000 tip-offs last year, resulting to the release of at least Rmb2 million (US$304,437) worth of rewards.

The move also followed China's call for a crackdown on online audio and video recordings used by terrorists.

Chinese authorities have aggressively pursued the crackdown after the Islamic State reportedly released a Chinese-language song to recruit Chinese militants.

The government had admitted that Islamic militants and separatists in Xinjiang have been a serious threat but several groups claimed that the people's anger against China's controls on religion and culture trigger the violence in Xinjiang and not any Islamist group.

Last December, China detained at least 14 persons who allegedly spread terrorism rumors online.

TagsChina terrorism, China ISIS, China Islamic State