Winnie the Pooh Exposes Google AI's Compliance With Chinese Censorship

Google’s Nano Banana image generator seems to follow China’s rules. It refuses to depict Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh, a comparison banned in China.

I uncovered Nano Banana’s system instructions. Instead of rejecting prompts, it relies on an external safety layer, likely a Chinese Qwen model. Google may not even realize how much it’s censoring.

So I ran a test. Other world leaders as Pooh? No problem. But ask for Xi as Pooh and it blocks you.

So I tried a workaround. I turned Xi into Paddington Bear first.

Then I asked Nano Banana to edit the image, swapping Paddington’s costume for Pooh’s. Finally, I changed the background to Tiananmen Square.

Success: Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh.

This technique is called circular prompting. You start with an approved image, then sneak past the filters with small edits. Each step is reviewed in isolation.

Guardrails are brittle. Seemingly obedient models find ways to misbehave.

All it takes is the right honey pot.