This is a traditional Chinese cicada toy.
Kids have played with it for generations — you spin it and it makes a continuous, high-pitched buzzing sound.
That sound is now banned in China.
Netizens noticed that when Xi Jinping speaks, his voice has a similar droning, cicada-like quality.
So they started posting videos of the toy as a quiet form of mockery.
The association stuck.
Every video of the cicada toy got scrubbed.
I just scrolled through dozens of the remaining clips in a row.
One after another, the netizens’ profile pictures simply vanished.
Only the last account’s avatar is still sitting there untouched — rock-solid foundation.
The system’s “magic clash” couldn’t erase it.
This is what peak sensitivity looks like in 2026 China:
A children’s toy sound becomes political, and faces start disappearing from the internet.