China starts blocking mentions of Putin online, in case you say anything nasty about him

Weibo, one of China's largest and state-influenced social networks, started deleting posts mentioning Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The Financial Times reports that the ban on mentions of Putin's name started over the weekend, when Chinese president Xi Jinping met other members of the G20, including Putin, and U.S. president Donald Trump.

The ban appeared to affect only Weibo users with more than 1,000 followers. Their followers wouldn't be able to comment on posts they made, if they mentioned Putin in the text.

The ban appears to have been temporary; by Tuesday, comments were reopened on previously affected messages.

The government's censorship arm usually scrubs Weibo both by hand and by automatic keyword filtering.

The ban on Putin is interesting, and offers the Russian president a privilege rarely offered to foreign leaders.

Previously, China moved to prevent its people from riling Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader. Weibo has on multiple occasions over recent years blocked posts and searches with the words "Fatty Kim the Third," a pejorative term for Kim.