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

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/how-chinese-ai-is-censoring-the-controversy-around-mbappes-chairman-mao-comments/
- Published: 2026-11-04T20:28:09+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-05T04:05:39+00:00
- Original publisher: France 24 (publisher lean: Centre)
- Original article: https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20261104-how-chinese-ai-is-censoring-the-controversy-around-mbappes-chairman-mao-comments
- Topics: AI, Asia, Football, Sport, Technology, World

## Key points

- Chinese AI chatbots restricted or disputed information about Mbappé’s Mao joke.
- Doubao refused to answer the question in tests using a China-based address.
- DeepSeek called the claim likely fake news, even though the joke was reported.

## Summary

France 24’s tests found that Chinese AI chatbots restricted or misrepresented information about Kylian Mbappé’s joke concerning Mao Zedong. The findings suggest that users may receive different accounts of a politically sensitive controversy depending on which chatbot and internet location they use.

Mbappé made the joke on a French podcast in mid-October, prompting Chinese sponsors to end partnerships and a rebuke from China’s foreign ministry; he later apologised. Testing DeepSeek and ByteDance’s Doubao with a China-based internet address, researchers found Doubao refused to answer whether Mbappé had called Mao a dictator, while DeepSeek described the claim as likely fake news. DeepSeek also declined to answer when tested from France, saying the question went beyond its remit.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.