An “order” from the authorities in Beijing prompted Apple to remove two of China’s most popular gay dating apps – Blued and Finka – from its app store in the country, the BBC reports.
An Apple spokesperson is quoted as saying: “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.”
A “lite” version of the Blued app remains available on Chinese app stores, according to checks by the BBC. Some other gay and bisexual dating apps are also still available in the country, like Jicco and Jack’d.
Blued is one of the most widely used gay dating apps in China, with tens of millions of downloads.
According to the BBC, Apple runs a separate app store in China, in accordance with the country’s strict internet laws. Popular apps like Instagram and WhatsApp are not available in China.
Members of the LGBT community expressed concerns about the removal of Blued and Finka, with one saying, “I hope those heterosexual policymakers can understand that love is rare – it’s not something shameful or unspeakable.”
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