Apple Pulls China’s Top Gay Dating Apps After Government Order

Apple removed two of China’s most popular gay dating apps on the App Store after receiving an order from China’s top internet regulator and censorship authority, WIRED has learned. The move comes as reports of Blued and Finka’s disappearance from the iOS App Store and several Android app stores circulated on Chinese social media over the weekend. The apps still appear to be functional for users in the country who have already downloaded them.

“We respect the laws of the countries in which we operate. Based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China, we have removed these two apps from the China storefront only,” an Apple spokesperson said in an email. Apple clarified that the apps have not been available in other countries for some time. “Earlier this year, developer Finka chose to remove the app from storefronts outside of China, and Blued was only available in China.”

Most international LGBTQ+ dating apps are already blocked in China. Grindr 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 has come under increasing pressure as the Chinese Communist Party tightens its control over civil society and freedom of expression. Several prominent gay rights organizations in China have shut down, and social media companies now frequently censor LGBTQ+ content and accounts.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In July, Blued abruptly stopped registering new users without providing an explanation, according to posts on Chinese social media. For a month, Chinese users who wanted access to the platform paid up to $20 for second-hand Blued accounts on e-commerce sites. But registrations resumed in mid-August.

In 2020, BlueCity, the parent company of Blued, went public. He announced that the app has over 49 million registered users and over 6 million monthly active users. The same year, BlueCity announced the acquisition of Finka, its main competitor in China, for approximately $33 million. The company was delisted in 2022 and was acquired by Newborn Town, a Hong Kong-listed social media company. Most of Blued’s longtime employees, including its founder Ma Baoli, left the company after the acquisition, said a former Blued employee who asked to remain anonymous for privacy reasons.