Anonymous chat app in China draws attention for founder’s identity

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Remember the apps Secret and Whisper? The idea of anonymous social networks is apparently coming back in China.

Toilet (yes, that’s the app’s real name) allows users to post a topic or question and invite other anonymous users to join the conversation. The group is supposed to disappear after an hour.

But one of the reasons the anonymous app is drawing plenty of attention is the identity of its maker: Wang Xin, the CEO of once-popular streaming site Kuaibo, who served three and a half years in prison because Kuaibo gave users access to porn.

His new app touts itself as an answer to WeChat’s famous Moments news feed.

“It’s a dark net of your contacts. It’s the shadow of your WeChat Moments,” it says on Toilet’s website. “Everything you can’t see or hear on WeChat, or even those that are deleted, may appear here.”

One thing you won’t find on Toilet’s website? A download link.

That’s not because it’s also a secret. It’s because the app doesn’t appear to work yet.

Many comments on Weibo are complaints from people who can’t register accounts – something I had trouble with as well. After the app’s official launch yesterday, download links disappeared from the website, being replaced by a message saying servers are overwhelmed.

“Wanna know secrets but can’t ask directly?” says Toilet’s web page. / Photo credit: Toilet

Of course, this isn’t a new idea. In 2014, right after Secret and Whisper burst on to the scene in the US, Chinese companies quickly rolled out copycats. Mimi, meaning “secret” in Chinese, was one of the most popular apps in China back then. Just like Secret, it allowed you to post anonymously.

Mimi was soon removed from Apple’s App Store for reasons unknown to the public. Some speculated that it might be down to content problems like rumors and cyber bullying, while others suggested it could be related to Secret’s CEO complaining that Mimi is a blatant copy.

It’s perhaps not a coincidence then that the app came back as Wumi, meaning “no secrets.” But that, too, was repeatedly scrubbed from app stores. The latest version, Mifeng, still seems to be active, but not nearly as popular as it once was.