Several Chinese Internet companies, including Google, have issued apologies for not blocking access to pornographic material. Earlier this week, China scolded 19 Internet companies by name that did not live up to the government’s expectations for appropriate content.

On Jan. 5, the Chinese government released a list of the companies, including Google and Baidu, the two most popular search engines in China, and provided short statements explaining why the companies were culpable. Seven government ministries will be coordinating efforts “to purify the Internet’s cultural environment and protect the healthy development of minors,” reported the International Herald Tribune, quoting a statement posted on an unnamed government-run news site.

Those who follow the Chinese government’s interaction with the Web say these actions are “the latest in a long series of measures to limit the Internet in China, and did not appear to represent a long-term policy shift,” the Tribune said.