Apple has been removed Two of China’s most popular gay apps have been removed from the App Store after receiving orders from China’s central internet regulator and censorship authority, Wired has learned. The move comes as reports of Build and Finca disappearing from the iOS app store and several Android app stores making the rounds on Chinese social media over the weekend. It appears that the apps are still active for users in the country who have already downloaded them.
“We follow the laws of 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,” 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, Finca’s developer chose to remove the app from storefronts outside of China, and Blud was only available in 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 has grown rapidly Come under pressure As the Chinese Communist Party tightens its control over civil society and free expression. A number of gay rights organizations have been shut down in China, and social media companies now often censor LGBTQ+ content and accounts.
The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In July, Bluewood suddenly halted new user registrations, 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 second-hand build accounts on e-commerce websites. But registration resumed in mid-August.
In 2020, Bluity, Bluev’s parent company, went public. It announced that the app is dead 49 million Registered users and more than 6 million monthly active users. That same year, Blvd said it was acquiring Finca, its main competitor in China, for about $33 million. The company made its listing in 2022 and was acquired by Hong Kong-based social media firm Newtown. Most of Bluewood’s longtime employees left the company after the acquisition, including its founder Ma Baoli, a former Bluewood employee who asked not to be named for privacy reasons.