Chinese fans of banned parody app find each other offline using secret codes


Now that a popular parody and meme app in China called “Neihan Duanzi” has been shut down and its social media account on WeChat got deleted, fans of the app are gathering in solidarity offline in subtle protest.

Drivers are honking at each other in code to indicate that they’re fans, The New York Times reports. A coded message might be a car honk, followed by a pause, and two more honks.

This week, while in the US Congress was slowly grilling Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in China, regulators brought down swift bans on offending news apps and social media apps. On Monday, China banned several big news apps including Jinri Toutiao, owned by Beijing-based Bytedance Technology. Then, the following day, authorities shut down Neihan...

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