Following disruption of other foreign services, Instagram mysteriously disappears from China’s Android app stores [UPDATED]

In the latest development among a trickling of disruptions on China’s internet, popular photo-sharing app Instagram appears to be no longer available for download in China’s many third-party Android app stores. [Scroll down for updates]

Chinese tech blog Pingwest first spotted Instagram’s disappearance from China’s Android app stores late last night. Almost 24 hours since that piece’s publication, it’s still missing. Tech in Asia searched Android app stores from Baidu, Xiaomi, Wandoujia, Qihoo 360, Tencent, and 91 Wireless and found no sign of Instagram’s official app in the listings.

Here’s what we see when we search for Instagram in 91 Wireless’s mobile app store, via Chrome for desktop:

And here’s what we see when we search for it in 91 Mobile’s store on Android:

This looks like an Android-only affair for the time being. Instagram is still completely searchable and downloadable in China’s App Store on iOS, and its URL remains accessible on the Chinese internet. In addition, one Chinese user who already has the app installed on her Android device tells Tech in Asia that Instagram continues to run smoothly.

We’ve reached out to Baidu, Wandoujia, and Instagram for comments on this matter and will update this piece if we hear back.

[UPDATE: 11:55AM 9 July]: Wandoujia replied to our inquiry. Their official response: “No comment.”

[UPDATE 19:10PM 9 July]: A Baidu spokesperson has told Tech in Asia the company has no official comment on the matter.

Whatever’s going on, it makes absolutely no sense

If these sudden outages are indeed deliberate decisions made by Chinese internet authorities – and it’s quite possible they’re not – whoever’s pulling the levers likes to mess with your brain. Let’s quickly round up what’s gone on so far:

A signal to Facebook?