There are few things less threatening than the rolly polly yellow bear known as Pooh. Maybe a cotton ball would be less baneful (though undoubtedly more triggering to certain leftists). Though to communists, all things are harmful if they make jest of their reigning piglet. Thus, social media bans are so trending in China. And, of course, Facebook is a submissive fanboy (see HuffPo Proposes Chinese-Style Media Ban to Fight Fake News… and DISTURBING: Facebook Removes User Content ‘Offensive’ to Chinese Government…). The latest ban? They've successfully erased all honey covered traces of beloved Winnie the Pooh.

Winnie the Pooh has been censored from Chinese social media after unflattering memes compared the honey-loving bear to the country’s President Xi Jinping.

Ahead of the country’s Communist party congress this autumn, posts featuring the beloved children's book character were censored on the Chinese social network Sina Weibo.

Searches for the “Little Bear Winnie” – as Pooh is called in China – returned the error message “content is illegal”. Meanwhile, animated gifs featuring Pooh vanished from messaging app WeChat.

No official reason has been given, but the Financial Times cited comparisons between Mr Xi and AA Milne’s fictional bear that have been widely shared online in recent years.

In 2014, a photograph of Mr Xi standing through the roof of a parade car was set alongside Pooh in a toy car.

It was named “most censored image of 2015” by Global Risk Insights, a political consultancy.