Posts comparing Chinese president Xi Jinping to the cartoon bear — a longstanding joke in China — were also taken down.
Social media users first pointed out a comic likeness between Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and Disney's rendering of A.A. Milne's famous character in 2013. To many, an image of the Xi walking beside U.S. President Barack Obama bore a resemblance to an image of Winne the Pooh walking beside Tigger. Another Pooh-Xi comparison became China’s most censored image of 2015 according to political consultancy Global Risk Insights.
Chinese social media users have long relied on euphemisms such as the Pooh-Xi joke to skirt the country's strict censorship system.
The latest Pooh ban appears to be part of a larger tightening of state control in the run up to this fall's Communist Party Congress. Various virtual private networks, or VPNs — which can be used to access prohibited sites — have also been banned.
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