How Chinese AI is censoring the controversy around Mbappé’s Chairman Mao comments

France 24 · The FRANCE 24 Observers · 2026-11-04 20:28 UTC

Footballer Kylian Mbappé sparked a wave of condemnation across China when he implied that Chinese leader Mao Zedong was a dictator. In China, information about this controversy is being censored by Chinese AI chatbots.

Footballer Kylian Mbappé sparked a wave of condemnation across China when he implied that Chinese leader Mao Zedong was a dictator. In China, information about this controversy is being censored by Chinese AI chatbots.

French footballer Kylian Mbappé made a joke about former Chinese leader Mao Zedong back in mid-October when he appeared on "The Bridge", a French podcast featuring athletes. When the host asked Mbappé which image of himself he found the funniest, the player cited a meme in which his head appears superimposed on a figure appearing to be Mao’s body. “"[The meme] that makes me laugh the most, it's the one where there's a video of a guy, I think it's a Chinese dictator..." Mbappé said. “I use it a lot with my friends.”

Little did Mbappé know – his joke was about to spark a diplomatic storm with China.

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