Many new media sites could be banned in China under strict new regulations on the use of video-sharing web sites.

According to legislation passed this week by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, only content-sharing sites run by the government will be allowed and internet service providers will be expected to report unapproved sites to the government.

''Those who provide internet video services should insist on serving the people, serve socialism...and abide by the moral code of socialism,'' say the rules.

The Chinese government has encouraged the growth of the internet but has imposed restrictions on access to foreign news sites and struck a controversial deal with Google to filter pro-democracy or anti-China content.

Because Google owns YouTube it is unclear whether the new rules that come into force at the end of January will ban all the site's content, or whether Google's existing filtering arrangement will be extended to cover the YouTube site.

"China's new regulations for online video could be a cause for concern, depending on the interpretation," said a spokesman for YouTube.

"We believe that the Chinese government fully recognises the enormous value of online video, and will not enforce the regulations in a way that could deprive the Chinese people of its benefits."

The government has also introduced strict regulations requiring bloggers to register under their real names and restricting the providers who can run blogging sites.

In November Yahoo settled a lawsuit from various human rights organisations in the US alleging the internet firm aided China's prosecution of several "cyber-dissidents".

Three dissidents who spoke out against the Chinese government online were convicted after their personal details were handed over to the Chinese government by Yahoo.