Chinese authorities are reporting they've shut down nearly 300 websites as part of a 6-month crack-down on online extortion.

Zhou Bin, editor-in-chief of the news website 21cbh.com, has been detained for allegedly extorting money from dozens of companies since November 2013. [Photo: CNTV]

Around a million social networking accounts have also been taken off-line.

9 million of illegal comments or posts have also been stripped from the internet.

Jiang Jun with the Cyberspace Administration of China says this is going to be routine from now on.

"We're making online extortion and paid-post deletions part of our routine. We're setting up a regular operation, which will a complaint and reporting mechanism, as well as a protection mechanism for companies which suffer from losses. We'll also introduce administrative rules to wipe out online extortion and paid post deletions."

Online extortion is said to be common-place among many internet companies in China.

The publisher and chief executives of the influential 21st Century Business Herald were arrested last year for forcing companies to pay fees to avoid negative news coverage.

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