Apple has removed it Two of China’s most popular gay dating apps have been pulled from the App Store after receiving an order from China’s main internet regulator and censorship authority, WIRED has learned. The move follows reports of Blued and Finca disappearing from the iOS app store and several Android app stores on Chinese social media over the weekend. The apps still seem to work for users in the country who have already downloaded them.
“We comply with the laws in the countries in which we operate. Based on orders from the Cyberspace Administration of China, we have removed “Apple Pulls China” these two apps from the China storefront only,” an Apple spokesperson said in an email. Apple clarified that the apps are not available in other countries for some time. “Earlier this year, Finker developers elected to remove the app from storefronts outside of China, and Blud was only available in China.”
Apple Pulls China
Most international LGBTQ+ dating apps are already blocked in China. Grinder was removed from Apple’s Chinese App Store in 2022.
China decriminalized homosexuality in the 1990s, but the government does not recognize same-sex marriage. In recent years, China’s LGBTQ+ community is growing come under pressure As the Chinese Communist Party tightens its control “Apple Pulls China” over civil society and free expression. Several prominent gay rights organizations in China have been shut down, and social media companies now frequently censor LGBTQ+ content and accounts.
The Chinese embassy in Washington, DC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In July, Blud suddenly stopped registering new users without explanation, according to Chinese social media posts. For a month, Chinese users who wanted to get on the platform were paying as much as $20 for secondhand Blued accounts on ecommerce websites. But registration starts again from mid-August.
In 2020, Bluecity, Bluecity’s parent company, went public. It announces that the app is dead 49 million Registered users and over 6 million monthly active users. That same year, BlueCity said it was acquiring Finca, its main rival in China, for about $33 million. The company was listed in 2022 and was acquired by Hong Kong-listed social media “Apple Pulls China” firm Newborn Town. Most of Blued’s longtime employees, including founder Ma Baoli, left the company after the acquisition, said a former Blued employee who asked not to be named for privacy reasons.