BEIJING-- Chinese authorities have offered rewards of up to 10,000 yuan (1,465 dollars) to Internet users who report websites that feature pornography, state media reported Sunday.

However, the censors' latest campaign against content that harms public morality appears to have encouraged Internet users to look for porn online.

Within the first 24 hours, a hotline set up Friday by Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre was flooded with more than 500 phone calls and 13,000 online tips, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The centre is looking for websites and mobile phone-accessible sites that contain obscene material or advertise sex products, the report said.

Rewards ranging from 1,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan will go to the first person to report each website, the centre said in a notice, adding a committee would review the tip-offs to determine what award was appropriate, Xinhua said.

China has launched several Internet crackdowns on pornography, con artists and political activists in the past.

Earlier this year China threatened to sanction major websites, including search engine giants Google and Baidu, alleging that pornography and other material that could corrupt young people was turning up in search results.