Europe Asia News

Apple confirmed that, under orders from authorities, it removed two of China’s most popular gay dating apps, Blued and Finka, from its local App Store.

An Apple spokesperson said, “We comply with the laws of the countries where we operate. At the request of the Cyberspace Administration of China, we removed these two apps only from the Chinese store.”

This move has raised concerns among the country’s LGBT community.

Members of the LGBT community expressed their concerns over the removal of Blued and Finka. One member said, “I hope heterosexual policymakers can understand that love is something rare, not something shameful or unspeakable.”

A “lite” version of the Blued app remains available in Chinese app stores. Other gay and bisexual dating apps such as Jicco and Jack’d also remain available in the country.

Blued is one of the most widely used gay dating apps in China, with tens of millions of downloads.

Apple operates a separate App Store in China in accordance with the country’s strict internet regulations. Popular apps such as Instagram and WhatsApp are not available in China.

Android users rely on locally adapted versions of the operating system, as the Google Play Store is blocked in China.