BEIJING, June 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Yahoo Inc. has closed perhaps hundreds of chat rooms on its site after a media report revealed that some of the rooms were used to promote sex with minors.

    Companies such as PepsiCo Inc., State Farm Insurance and Georgia-Pacific Corp. stopped advertising on Yahoo after they were informed that adults were attempting to lure children into sexual encounters within some of Yahoo's user-created chat rooms, according to a report by KPRC-TV in Houston.

    KPRC reported in some cases, men were using Web cameras to send lewd pictures to minors in chat rooms with such titles as Younger Girls 4 Older Guys and Girls 13 And Under for Older Guys.

    Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako, who declined to say when the service will return or why all the user-created sites were closed, said the Internet portal shuttered the service for improvements and to ensure "compliance with our terms of service."

    How long the chat rooms that allegedly promoted sex with minors have operated is unclear. Yahoo does not monitor the content in the chat rooms but will close a room if it receives complaints, Osako said.

    "We encourage users to notify us when they believe content is in violation of our terms of service," Osako said.

    She declined to say whether the moves were related to the pulled ads.

    Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo hosts chat rooms the company created and those founded by users. Yahoo-created chat rooms remain operational.

    (Agencies)