News outlets report main targets include gay-themed manga

The AFP reported on Saturday that the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo has banned gay-themed content from the service as of Friday.

In a statement on Friday, Sina Weibo said it would remove "illegal" content including "manga and videos with pornographic implications, promoting violence or (related to) homosexuality." According to The Global Times , the main targets included "pornographic, violent or gay-themed cartoons," as well as content such as "slash, gay, boys love , and gay fictional stories."

Sina Weibo said the ban was a part of a "clean-up campaign," which will also include "violent video games like Grand Theft Auto ." The Global Times added Sina Weibo will also target game series like Mercenaries and Mafia . The campaign will last for three months.

Sina Weibo stated the ban was also "according to laws and regulations such as the Cyber security Law." The platform said it had already removed 56,240 items by Friday evening.

Sina Weibo states it has 400 million active monthly users.

The announcement prompted online protests on Saturday on the platform under the "I am gay" hashtag. The AFP reported that around 170,000 Sina Weibo users had used the hashtag before the platform apparently banned it.

Sources: AFP via The Japan Times; The Global Times via Variety