Xiaohongshu: China's Instagram blocked after Tiananmen post

The anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown is delicate in China, with the ruling party regularly suppressing efforts to mark the day when Chinese troops crushed pro-democracy protests in Beijing on 4 June 1989.

Reportedly, the company had posted "Tell me loudly: what's the date today?" on Weibo. The post to its 14 million followers was swiftly deleted.

Weibo is one of the biggest social media platforms in China and has over 445 million monthly active users.

After deletion of post, its Weibo page has been replaced by a message saying it is being investigated for violations of laws and regulations.

It is still unclear whether the post was intended to reference the crackdown.

Xiaohongshu has yet to comment publicly on the matter.

The company-backed by Chinese internet giants Alibaba (9988.HK) and Tencent (0700.HK) described as China's Instagram with e-commerce and is mostly used by young, urban Chinese women.

As of Monday morning, Xiaohongshu's official account on Weibo remained locked, but the app was still working properly.

Some online searches said the account was unavailable due to complaints of violations of some regulations and the relevant provisions of the Weibo Community Convention.

As per sources, Xiaohongshu's Weibo account frequently poses questions in its social media posts and has made similar posts to mark the weekend.