BEIJING - A total of 279,000 online cartoon video clips featuring popular children's characters in sexual or violent scenarios have been deleted in a special campaign in China.

To date, a total of 1,079 online accounts have been closed for relevant violations and 771 online games were removed, the Ministry of Culture said in a statement Thursday.

The ministry said that it had ordered major Internet companies including Baidu, Tencent and Youku, to check the content of their websites in January, asking them to remove all such content immediately.

Internet companies were also told to share keywords and other information about harmful videos so that other websites could deal with violations accordingly, the statement said.

Moreover, the ministry requires local cultural administrative agencies to strengthen online management and deepen work to clean up online violent and pornographic content as well content that may harm society and the physical and mental health of juveniles.

It pledged serious punishment for enterprises and individuals who produce or upload harmful video.

Websites that fail to conduct strict review of their content will also be punished, the statement said.

The ministry also encouraged the public to give tip-offs of such violations through telephone hotline 12318 and website www.12318.gov.cn.