China’s attempts to rid the internet of pornography and “indecent” content have led to a near $1 million fine for one provider.

Chinese internet giant Sina has been slugged with a fine of around $815,000 for “unhealthy and indecent content”.

It will also have publishing rights revoked, which could mean it no longer offers audio-visual content of any kind.

The fine is allegedly related to the content of third-party advertisements on Sina’s network.

One of the largest online corporations in China, Sina owns Weibo, a microblogging service similar to Twitter, which was listed for public trading in recent weeks.

A statement from Sina says that the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television has notified that their “Internet Publication License and License for Online Transmission of Audio-Visual Programs would be revoked due to certain unhealthy and indecent content from third-parties or by users” on various sites.

The fine is part of an ongoing Beijing Municipal Cultural Market attempt to rid the internet of pornographic material.

Sina has been charged over 24 “pornographic and obscene” e-books, videos and audio programmes in a previous case.

China’s war on internet pornography, which is slated to run from April to November this year, has been criticised as a thinly-veiled attempt to muzzle politically sensitive discussion while scraping money from profitable online companies.