US EditionChina Orders Removal of Popular Gay Dating Apps
Following a regulator order, Apple removed Blued and Finka, two leading gay dating apps with over 49 million registered users, from Chinese app stores amid a broader LGBTQ+ crackdown.
- On November 11, 2025, Apple Inc. removed Blued and Finka from its China storefront after an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China, delisting them from the iOS App Store and several Android stores.
- China's regulatory push has in recent years included delisting Grindr in 2022 and new app registration rules, part of a broader tightening on LGBTQ+ expression by China's Communist Party and Chinese regulators.
- Blued and Finka are sizable platforms, with BlueCity acquiring Finka for about $33 million; Blued reported over 49 million registered users and more than 6 million monthly active users in 2020, while users paid up to $20 for secondhand accounts and registrations stopped in July.
- Users and activists warned that the removals shrink safe online spaces, especially outside cosmopolitan areas, and sources say reinstatement is possible only if app developers and platforms comply.
- The takedown underscores tensions between corporate values and access to China, as Apple Inc. defended following local laws amid precedents like Meta's WhatsApp and Threads removals.
103 Articles
103 Articles
Chinese authorities have ordered the removal of two popular gay dating apps from mobile phone app stores in the country, Apple told AFP on Tuesday.
Dating among men is becoming more difficult in China: Google and Apple have taken the Finka and Blued apps out of their app stores – and thus bowed to an order from the Internet agency.
Associated Press News
Apple pulls two gay dating apps in China under government order
Apple says it has pulled two popular gay dating apps in China following an order from Chinese authorities in the latest evidence of their tightening grip on the LGBTQ+ community.
No more dates for gays: China's authorities massively cut access to two gay dating apps, even though homosexuality has been legal for over 25 years. China's one-party dictatorship is anti-popular dating apps for gays. As confirmed by the US company Apple on Tuesday by the news agency AFP, the Blued and Finka apps were removed from the Chinese app store on orders from the Internet authority. Both apps were also no longer available on Android phon…
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