Chinese app binned by Beijing after asking what day it is on anniversary of Tiananmen Square massacre

Popular Chinese shopping app Xiaohongshu has seen its software banished from app stores and its social media accounts crimped, a few hours after issuing a controversial post on June 4th that asked, "Tell me loudly, what is the date today?". One answer to that question is that June 4th is the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, an event Beijing prefers not to discuss - online or in the real world. Friday June 4th 2021 was also just another Friday and therefore the last day of the working week, an occasion that Xiaohongshu often marks by posing weekend-oriented questions on social media. Xiaohongshu's post to Weibo, China's Twitter analog, was quickly removed, but first caught the eye of government internet watchdog The Cyberspace Administration of China, which reportedly started an investigation into Xiaohongshu. According to The Wall Street Journal, Xiaohongshu denies its post was political. To understand Xiaohongshu, which translates as Little Red Book, imagine a mashup between Amazon and Instagram where mostly female Gen Z users review products and share their shopping experiences through short videos and photos. Social e-commerce app Xiaohongshu/RED got taken down from major Chinese appstores yesterday pic.