Peppa Pig is a cartoon series loved by most children. The children's television programme is, however, banned in China because of its reportedly gangsta culture. Over 30,000 videos of the animated pink pig have been deleted from a video application. Douyin is an online video platform owned by a technology firm Beijing Bytedance Technology Co. The company has removed all videos of the cartoon.

The Peppa Pig TV show started airing in China in 2015. But off late the young children are not taking the right kind of inspiration from the cartoon. They in fact, are becoming subversive. Some are preferring to get those temporary tattoos of Peppa. An SBS News report states, the cartoon had a rhyme that roughly translates to “get your Peppa Pig tatt, shout out to your frat” recently went viral on social media. The government will not tolerate any such programming and thus has wiped out the entire programme from the video site Douyin, sometimes called Tik Tok in English.

Peppa Pig is extremely popular among the children, and some children look at it as a sign of rebellion. China Daily says Peppa Pig’s Chinese nickname — shehuiren — is a slang term for gangster, which is encouraging the grown-up fans to link the show to some gangster rap. The state media is speculating these links to the tattoo culture which is not really liked in the Chinese culture. The videos pulling down became apparent after they were taken down from Bytedance Technology Co.

China is known to tightly control the internet borders and also censors specific topics and even search topics. The authorities are known to hold media companies by the neck and asking to cull on the controversial subjects. Peppa Pig has become a target and purged on social media and other web platforms. The pig character may have been controlled on the web, but it is difficult to regulate it on the streets. There are plenty of the Peppa Pig characters which are already out in the retail stores. So wonder if those too would be cracked down upon.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 03, 2018 10:40 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).