In a last-minute move, the government said last night that it will delay the mandatory installation of the controversial "Green Dam-Youth Escort" filtering software on new computers that was scheduled to start today.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which oversees the software installation, told Xinhua News Agency that the delay came after "some computer producers said such a massive installation demanded extra time".

It did not set a date for when the order to install the software would come into force.