Peppa Pig, the beloved children's cartoon character, has been removed from the Chinese video-sharing platform Douyin, with over 30,000 clips deleted and the hashtag #PeppaPig banned, according to state-run tabloid Global Times.
The crackdown stems from Peppa's association with counterculture memes and 'society people', a slang term for lowlifes and gangsters. The Global Times described those sharing Peppa-related content as 'unruly slackers' and 'the antithesis of the young generation the party tries to cultivate'.
Peppa's popularity among Chinese adults has led to viral videos of tattoos, merchandise, and regional dialect dubs, some of which veer into violent or pornographic territory—both illegal in China.
This is not the first time Peppa has faced censorship in China. Last year, the character was caught up in a crackdown on foreign children's books, part of a wider campaign against Western influence.
Introduced to Chinese audiences in 2015 on state broadcaster CCTV, Peppa Pig remains immensely popular, with two theme parks set to open in Beijing and Shanghai next year. However, the Douyin ban may reflect an overcautious company, as its sister app Jinri Toutiao was recently suspended for hosting inappropriate content.
