Podcast and audio apps suddenly disappear in China

China punishes 26 audio apps like Ximalaya and NetEase Music for spreading pornographic content and ‘historical nihilism’

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Popular music streaming app NetEase Cloud Music also hosts podcasts. (Picture: NetEase Cloud Music)

Published: 11:34am, 3 Jul 2019Updated: 11:10am, 14 Aug 2019

Chinese internet users are already used to the country’s periodic crackdown campaigns that suspend popular apps for a period of time. Such crackdowns have largely targeted apps serving up text or video content. Now authorities are moving on to audio.

The Cyberspace Administration of China said they punished 26 audio apps in a clean-up campaign, including a range of voice-based social apps. Some audio apps not listed in CAC’s announcement have been removed from Android app stores, including popular podcast apps Ximalaya FM, Lizhi FM and NetEase Cloud Music, a popular music streaming app that includes podcasts.

Some reasons cited by CAC will be familiar to anyone following content censorship in China. The agency said some online audio platforms attract attention by hosting pornographic content that goes against “public order and good customs.'' But it also cited other reasons that netizens found more baffling.

CAC accused some online music platforms of promoting anime culture and other subcultures. Some audiobook platforms are allegedly promoting “historical nihilism” by helping spread horror novels featuring zombies and posthumous marriage -- two examples used by CAC. Such content “severely damages the internet environment” and has a bad influence on minors, the agency said.

The number of Chinese users of online audio services, which is a combination of podcasts and audiobooks, reached 260 million in 2017, according to an iResearch report. Another report from iiMedia showed the number of online listeners grew to more than 400 million in 2018. But authorities only started tightening censorship on the rapidly-growing sector recently. And many users are confused about terms used in the CAC post.

“So now it’s illegal to listen to horror novels?” one Weibo user asked.