YNOT – Chinese authorities have added a new tool to their arsenal for ridding the internet of “inappropriate” content: Cash. The government now offers a reward of up to 10,000 yuan (about $1,500) to surfers who report any pornographic website that has escaped the country’s diligent censors.According to official Chinese news agency Xinhua, surfers were quick to jump at the opportunity. On Friday, within the first 24 hours of the new program’s launch, more than 500 telephone calls and 13,000 online tips arrived at a special hotline at the Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre.

The first citizen to report a website or mobile phone portal that contains porn or sells sex-related products will receive a bounty ranging from 1,000-10,000 yuan, once the site has been investigated. A committee determines the value of each reward based on how complicated and important the case turns out to be, Xinhua reported.

The program is a cooperative venture between the Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre and three other government departments. The hotline seeks reports about online material in nine categories, including sites that contain no sexual material themselves but may link to other sites that do.

By Monday morning, more than 3,500 reports had been forwarded to the hotline, Xinhua noted.