China’s banned humor app built a huge community online (and offline)

He wanted to share the good news and a brand new song with his friends on Neihan Duanzi, an app full of jokes and memes from its 17 million users, who've formed a tight-knit community. Two days later, that community was broken: Cheng learned that the app was permanently shut down.

Neihan Duanzi, which means “subtle jokes,” is from Bytedance -- the same company behind Toutiao, one of the country’s biggest news aggregators. But as the name suggests, Neihan Duanzi is focused on humor. It’s where users upload and read memes, funny videos, and of course, off-color jokes.

As part of the government’s ongoing clamp down of online content, the app was shut down on April 10th because state watchdog says that it contains "misleading and vulgar content."

The 6-year-old app has a following like few others. Users call themselves “Duanyou,” or “friends of the jokes,” and they’ve formed a tight-knit community both online and offline. Users put on car stickers that read “Neihan Duanzi TV," and when drivers recognize a fellow Duanyou’s car they honk their horn in a specific way: One long honk, followed by two short honks. (Local police are not happy about this.)