RantCrush Top 5: July 17, 2017

You’d think that Winnie the Pooh is a pretty harmless cartoon. But the beloved children’s character has been censored on Chinese social media. People using Weibo–the Chinese equivalent of Facebook–who post anything containing the name “Little Bear Winnie” will receive an error message. Winnie the Pooh GIFs have also disappeared from the app WeChat. Authorities have not given any explanation, but it may be because the honey loving bear has frequently been compared to President Xi Jinping.

Winnie the Pooh has been censored from Chinese social media platform #Weibo because of a passing resemblance to a certain leader pic.twitter.com/qykXHUlBMk

— Yuan Yang (@YuanfenYang) July 16, 2017

There is an important political conference coming up that will be seen as a test of Xi’s power. That could explain why authorities chose to censor Winnie the Pooh right now. Authorities are constantly monitoring the internet, and the list of banned phrases for some reason also includes the phrases “Three Wristwatches” and “River Crab.” This is the third time Pooh has been banned.

RT @benyunmowang I really should read Winnie the Pooh… #Xi #Abe #APEC2014 #China #Japan @EleanorFreund @mwings17 pic.twitter.com/W9nr0Hx1XA

— Nancy 韵 (@NancyYunTang) November 10, 2014

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.