Alibaba-operated search engine Quark has been fined and ordered to remove harmful content from its platform after a regulatory investigation found it was hosting pornographic information, according to China's Cyberspace Administration.

The CAC issued a statement on Monday, saying that the Quark platform failed to comply with relevant management requirements, as it displayed a significant amount of obscene and pornographic information in search results and recommended explicit and vulgar keywords to users.

As a result, Quark was fined 500,000 yuan ($68,330), and the CAC ordered the cyberspace department in Guangdong province to hold discussions with Quark's representatives.

Quark responded by stating that it takes the punishment seriously and has initiated a comprehensive rectification process. The company has established a dedicated team to enhance inspections, upgraded its system to identify harmful content, and improved content review procedures using both manual and technical methods. Quark has also committed to further enhancing its management to provide users with high-quality, safe, and healthy content.

Additionally, the CAC ordered the livestreaming platform cc.163.com to suspend the update of dance-related content for seven days after it was discovered to have hosted vulgar material.