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[Angrboda]

This Chinese kissing device lets you smooch over the internet

Want to send your faraway lover a kiss? A Chinese contraption with warm, moving silicon “lips” appears to have just the answer.

The device, advertised as a way to let long-distance couples share “real” physical intimacy, is causing a buzz among Chinese social media users, who have reacted with both intrigue and shock.

Equipped with pressure sensors and actuators, the device is said to be able to mimic a real kiss by replicating the pressure, movement and temperature of a user’s lips.

Along with the kissing motion, it can also transmit the sound the user makes.

However, while many social media users saw a funny side to the device, others criticized it as “vulgar” and “creepy.” Some voiced concerns that minors could buy and use it.

“I don’t understand (the device) but I’m utterly shocked,” said one top comment on Weibo.

On the Twitter-like platform, several hashtags about the device have racked up hundreds of millions of views over the past week.

To send a kiss, users need to download a mobile phone app and plug the device into their phone’s charging port. After pairing with their partners in the app, couples can start a video call and transmit replicas of their smooches to each other.