The China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center asked websites to remove at least 200,000 pieces of illegel content in 2015, according to a China Daily exclusive. 

The center reportedly received more than 20,000 violence and terrorrism-related reports from frequent online users. 

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"China has 4.23 million websites producing 40 billion pieces of content every day, which is a huge workload for the Internet management departments to cover, let alone distinguish illegal or harmful ones from among them," Zhang Chenggang, the center's director, told China Daily. 

Zhang said that they found terrorism-related information in cloud storage, instant messaging tools like WeChat and QQ, and some small online forums. 

More than 2 million yuan ($308,000) were earmarked for people who provide valuable information last year which boosted the number of tips from citizens. 

"On one hand, more 'eyes' helping us scrutinize online terrorist activity can alleviate our work burden. On the other hand, reporting such messages is also a way for netizens to implement the rule of law while surfing the Internet," said Zhang. 

The center is focusing on websites that promote violence and terrorrism in various medias such as uploading audio recordings and terror images on covert sites. 

The online cleanse has been active for almost a decade, supervised by the China's Cyberspace Administration, the center's parent organization. Requiring more resources to tighten its control on the cyberspace, the center partnered with foreign reporting organizations to delete 2,000 pieces of content related to terrorrism and child pornography.

Websites of administrative offices were developed to "build up their channels for detection" to further the center's reach. 

Tagschina internet, Great Firewall of China, online terrorism, terrorism, child pornography China, Internet censorship, online security