Blued and Finka were removed from Apple's App Store and certain Android App Stores.

Blued and Finka were removed from Apple’s App Store.

LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance have taken another hit in China, with Apple removing two of the countries biggest LGBTQ+ dating apps. Wired reports that Blued and Finka are no longer available on the iOS App Store or certain Android App Stores following orders from the Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s internet regulator and censor.

Apple told Wired that it must “follow the laws in the countries where we operate.” Both dating apps were available solely in China, where LGBTQ+ dating apps are minimal — Grindr, for instance, hasn’t been available on Apple since 2022. Blued exists internationally under the name HeeSay.

China has increasingly cracked down on LGBTQ+ individuals’ rights and groups in recent years, allegedly shuttering large organizations like the Beijing LGBT Center in 2023. For reasons unknown, Blued previously stopped new registrations this past July, with individuals buying second-hand accounts to use the app. However, it reopened in the middle of August.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    23 hours ago

    The trouble with appeasement is that you’re eventually pushed to the point where you won’t cave anymore.

    I thought the trouble with appeasement was that you surrendered turf until you were backed out of a defensible position.

    You have an enemy.

    The Chinese economy is not the enemy of the Apple retail sector. And it never has been. They’ve been hand-in-glove for decades.

    It’s sunk cost fallacy as international strategy and it’s terrible.

    It’s a profit-maximizing strategy and its how every capitalist enterprise operates.