China has closed 50 websites and social media accounts for pornography violations as well asl violations related to "political news". ranging from pornography to "publishing political news without a permit", Beijing's cyberspace watchdog said on Tuesday.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) shut 17 public pages on the mobile social messaging app Weixin - the Chinese WeChat - as well as 24 websites and 9 channels or columns on websites.

Some of the other offences listed by CAC include publishing fake information under the guise of the government or media, and publishing information related to gambling or fraud.

The Chinese government has been regularly blocking websites and messaging services.

Last fall, the cyberspace watchdog had closed nearly 1.8 million accounts on social networking and instant messaging services since launching an anti-pornography campaign earlier in the year.

In 2014, authorities received almost 11 million reports of what was described as harmful information online, Xinhua reported separately on Tuesday.

In November, Chinese officials called for controls on the Internet to preserve stability.