HONG KONG — Baidu.com, China’s most popular search engine, has had its wrist slapped by the government for allegedly including in search results what appear to be sexually explicit images of Hong Kong stars.The scandal started when photos said to be of actor Edison Chen and several female performers surfaced in Hong Kong. The photos show Chen and the women involved in sex acts or striking suggestive poses. Although China bans pornography, Hong Kong has retained semi-autonomy since reverting from British to Chinese rule in 1997 and the government doesn’t clamp down quite as tightly on the “extracurricular activities” of its residents as it does on mainland dwellers. However, when the racy photos made the leap to the mainland, the Beijing Association of Online Media decided to get tough.

The association, a government-sponsored internet watchdog, also pointed the finger of blame squarely at Baidu.com, saying some keyword searches and results pages “have become the platform for displaying and spreading these filthy pictures.”

The association demanded Baidu.com apologize and remove the links from its database.

“While other Beijing internet companies have boycotted the spread of the racy photos, Baidu still hasn’t implemented effective blocking and obscuring of the photos and has become defensive and procrastinated, leading to the stagnation of a large amount of pornographic, filthy pictures,” the BAOM said in a statement released Monday.

In the same statement, the association praised competing websites NetEase.com, Sina.com and Sohu.com for taking steps to restrict the distribution of the photos.