China's new Q&A app Fenda could be in trouble

According to prevailing theories, Fenda could be under investigation by regulators, reports Tech in Asia

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Something is rotten in the state of Fenda, the largest and hottest of China’s new Q&A apps. For nearly two weeks now, the platform has been basically offline — the app itself works but the content is virtually all gone.

This began on August 10, and on August 15 Fenda maker Zaihang added an introductory message explaining that the downtime was caused by “technology upgrades” and promising “an even better Fenda”. But here we are on August 23, and the platform is still down.

The most popular theory is that the app has been forced to remove its content because it’s under investigation by some government regulatory arm.

Fenda got its viral boost early on in part thanks to celebrities like Wang Sicong answering user questions like “What’s your favourite sex position?” It’s possible that other users may have taken things a bit further, possibly running afoul of China’s rather vague ban on “vulgar” content.

It’s also possible that users have been broaching other taboo subjects, like sensitive political topics, on the platform.

If the prevailing theories are true, it could be in for some trouble.

First, although the government usually gives online platforms with user-generated content a chance to reform and filter their content more thoroughly, that doesn’t always happen. Remember Fanfou? Neither does anyone else. Fanfou was China’s first Twitter clone. But the government shut it down and kept it shut down until Sina and Tencent, large companies the government had better control of, could launch their Weibo platforms. 

Second, because Fenda’s answers are voice-recorded, they’re not going to be easy to filter for messages that are too sexual, too political, or otherwise illegal. This is an excerpt from Tech in Asia. You can read the full article here