"China's main internet regulator and censorship authority ordered Apple to remove two very popular gay dating apps its App Store last weekend: Blued, an app with an estimated 56 million users; and Finka, which has 2.7 million users. The apps remain functional Chinese people who've already downloaded them, but their removal is just part of China's ongoing crackdown and censorship campaign against its LGBTQ+ citizens."
""We follow the laws in the countries where we operate," an Apple spokesperson in an email. "Based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China, we have removed these two apps from the China storefront only." Apple noted that Finka stopped being available outside of China earlier this year, while Blued was only available in China. China removed Grindr from Apple's mobile app stores in 2022, citing Grindr's difficulties in complying with a new privacy law."
"Though China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997, its government agents actively surveil, harass, and imprison LGBTQ activists as "subversives." China doesn't have legalized same-sex marriage. The country also allows mainland clinics to use electroshock conversion therapy to turn LGBTQ people straight (even though that's impossible). In 2016, the country banned all LGBTQ TV and queer web content, calling it similar to incest and sexual abuse."
China's Cyberspace Administration ordered Apple to remove two gay dating apps, Blued (about 56 million users) and Finka (2.7 million users), from the China App Store. The apps remain functional for people who already downloaded them. Apple said the removals followed a regulatory order and noted Finka had already stopped being available outside China while Blued was China-only. China previously removed Grindr in 2022 over privacy compliance. Gay dating apps also provide community, conversation, events, and resources. China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 but maintains repressive measures: surveillance, harassment, imprisonment of activists, no same-sex marriage, permitted electroshock conversion therapy, and a 2016 ban on LGBTQ TV and web content, with an official stance summarized as "don't encourage, don't discourage, don't promote."
Read at LGBTQ Nation
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