Apple caves to pressure from Chinese government and pulls gay dating apps

Tech giant Apple has apparently caved to pressure from the Chinese government by pulling two gay dating apps from the App Store. 

Wired has reported that Blued and Finka were no longer available in China, with social media users saying the apps were disappearing from the iOS, as well as several Android, app stores. The apps appear to still work for people who have already downloaded them. 

News and business-service platform The China Project has named Blued “not only the largest dating app for gay men in China but also in the world”. Finka was the “second-largest dating app for gay men in China”.

An Apple spokesperson told Wired: “We follow the laws in the countries where we operate. Based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China, we have removed these two apps from the China storefront only. Earlier this year, the developer of Finka elected to remove the app from storefronts outside China, and Blued was available only in China.”

In 2022, LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr was removed from Apple’s Chinese app store. 

Homosexuality was decriminalised in China in 1997 but LGBTQ people still lack many rights. Same-sex marriage is not recognised and there are no legal protections in place to protect queer people from discrimination.

It wasn’t until 2001 that homosexuality was declassified as a mental disorder in the communist state.

Censorship laws mean queer characters and storylines are axed from TV shows and movies, including Friends and Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. And LGBTQ+ accounts have allegedly been removed from Chinese social media and messaging app WeChat.

The groups told Reuters they had been locked out of their accounts, and some claimed all their content had been deleted.

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• Nov 29 2023

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