Zhihu, China’s Quora, removed from app stores for one week for insufficient censorship

Evidently, Zhihu’s censors did not impress this week

Zhihu, a popular Chinese question-and-answer site, has been removed from app stores in China for a week for its failure to adequately censor undesired content.

Usually referred to as China’s Quora, Zhihu currently boasts more than 100 million registered accounts and 26 million daily active users. Launched in 2010, the service has become the go-to spot for many Chinese netizens seeking expert advice and insight into a wide variety of topics.

But, earlier today, the Beijing Cyberspace Administration ordered that all app stores remove the Zhihu app for seven days (until 3 pm on March 9th) for its “lax regulation and spreading of unlawful information.”

It’s not clear what “unlawful information” authorities are referring to, but it’s worth pointing out that Chinese censors have been clocking some serious overtime this week following Sunday’s announcement that China was scrapping its limit on presidential terms, allowing Xi Jinping to possibly remain as the country’s leader for life.

On Weibo, everything from Winnie the Pooh to Yuan Shikai to the letter “N” was blocked and it’s possible that Zhihu’s own team were not quite as thorough in their own censorship.

Checks made by Shanghaiist found that Zhihu was indeed no longer available for download on two major Chinese android app stores.