this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025
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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.

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[–] DarkAri@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago

Oh well I guess I don't like China anymore.

[–] SereneSadie@lemmy.myserv.one 76 points 3 days ago (20 children)

Look out, the tankies will swarm to deny that this problem exists.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 20 points 3 days ago

One of them already downvoted you. I'm sure that more of them are coming.

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[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 118 points 4 days ago (1 children)

“Yes, dear leader.” - Timmy Apple

[–] stephen@lazysoci.al 36 points 4 days ago (17 children)

I’d love to give this a simple upvote. What is Tim Cook’s choice here? Operate illegally in China until the government shuts down their entire source of revenue in an entire market which, also, is the one that produces nearly all of its hardware?

If he doesn’t do it - shareholders will remove him in the blink of an eye and replace him with someone who will.

Where I’m agreeing though is - my current phone is my last Apple phone. I’ll be going with Graphene after this. I don’t want corporations telling me what software I can and can’t run on my decides while surveilling me.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Devils advocate:

…It’s kinda strategic for Apple to “stay.”

Let’s say they say no, and get kicked out of China. You think the Chinese tech giants are going to put up a fight about dating apps?

Seems better to Apple to keep a finger in the pie and do what they can get away with, if only for the LGBTQ folks.


Another example I used to point to is Steam which got away with sneaking a lot of culture into China under the government's nose. And it’s cause they didn’t make loud trouble.

[–] Lasherz12@lemmy.world 23 points 4 days ago (2 children)

This is literally the same argument that Elon made in defense of censoring Twitter in Turkey.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Elon is more aligned with Turkey's politics though, right?

Tim Cook is gay. I don’t think there’s much pretense of him liking this one bit.

[–] stephen@lazysoci.al 19 points 4 days ago

I’m sure it is. My point is - what do Lemmy users expect out of a for-profit company operating inside of a capitalistic economic system? Saying “no” to China’s LGBT hating demands is impossible in this situation.

[–] becausechemistry@lemy.lol 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The trouble with appeasement is that you’re eventually pushed to the point where you won’t cave anymore. You say no. And they punish you for it.

And now, all that appeasement has meant nothing. You sold your soul, you didn’t fight back, you did damage to yourself or your reputation or your customers or whatever. But you’re right where you would have been if you didn’t appease at all.

You have an enemy. If you didn’t, they wouldn’t be making you do terrible things. Do you want to tell them no to their face now? Or after they’ve recruited you into their scheme for years?

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

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[–] the_q@lemmy.zip 77 points 4 days ago (9 children)

Does China know Tim Cook is gay? Does Tim Cook?

[–] NotKyloRen@lemmy.zip 53 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Yes, but he's straight for pay.

[–] emmanuel_car@fedia.io 17 points 3 days ago

Currently on a business trip where it’s technically illegal for me to exist. Feeling this comment.

[–] frazw@lemmy.world 29 points 4 days ago (1 children)

More importantly does Tim Cook know he's Ellen DeGeneres?

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip 19 points 4 days ago

He can't hear you over the sound of all the money entering his bank account.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago

Tim Cook absolutely doesn't

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[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 32 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

China has increasingly cracked down on LGBTQ+ individuals’ rights and groups in recent years

Yeah, it has a conservative streak disguised as post-Deng communism where the only freedom there is to make money and rip off another fellow citizen, anywhere from dating scams and pig butchering to tofu-dreg products.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Part of the problem with "China Bad" articles is that they tend to report "Thing Happened" without diving into the "Here's Why". If you get past the Engadget article that's just a four paragraph click-through/reprint of the Wired article and read the original piece, there's at least a bit more meat on the bone.

https://www.wired.com/story/apple-removes-gay-dating-apps-china-app-store/

In July, Blued abruptly stopped new user registration without giving an explanation, according to Chinese social media posts. For a month, Chinese users who wanted to get on the platform were paying as much as $20 for secondhand Blued accounts on ecommerce websites. But registration resumed in mid-August.

In 2020, BlueCity, the parent company of Blued, went public. It announced that the app had over 49 million registered users and over 6 million monthly active users. The same year, BlueCity said it was acquiring Finka, its main competitor in China, for about $33 million. The company delisted in 2022 and was acquired by Newborn Town, a Hong Kong–listed social media firm. Most of the longtime employees of Blued, including its founder Ma Baoli, left the company after the acquisition, says a former Blued employee who asked not to be named for privacy reasons.

In 2024, Blued rebranded its international version of the app to HeeSay, which became popular among users in India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, according to The Wall Street Journal. HeeSay remains available in app stores.

So the apps merged, then were traded, had the team gutted, and the app pivoted to serving an entirely new audience of users.

Why would this provoke a response from a Chinese regulator? Idk. Would be great to find out further details from the news outlet itself, rather than just getting another "China hates gay people" superficial response.

It doesn't look like the Cyberspace Administration of China purged all gay dating apps from their behind-the-firewall app store. So it seems premature to conclude this is a new vast pogrom against gay dating. Was Blued/Finka filling up with scams to the point that a regulator stepped in? Was there some kind of personal beef between the new owners and the Chinese regulatory agency? Did a bribe not get paid? Is this actually the beginning of a vast pogrom against all dating apps?

No fucking clue. And nobody doing the reporting seems to be interested in following up and asking.

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 29 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

that's generally one of the bad things about china.

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[–] blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 days ago

Ok so... make an app for finding "friends" and leave it up to users to discuss whether they want to slob knobs or paint miniatures or whatever

[–] arcterus@piefed.blahaj.zone 43 points 4 days ago (27 children)

Ah yes, the socialist utopia.

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[–] theoneandonlyeggboi@lemmings.world 38 points 4 days ago (8 children)

Apple told Wired that it must “follow the laws in the countries where we operate.”

Businesses always lie about supporting queer causes. They only care about the money.

If it was more profitable to be fascist nazis, that's what they would do.

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[–] myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 13 points 3 days ago

What the hell are the GOP gonna use to find the all male orgies when the my visit their handlers in china?

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 15 points 4 days ago (3 children)

okay, hear me out - sure, the apps need to be removed from the app store

why can't people just install them separately anyways?

[–] 100_kg_90_de_belin@feddit.it 20 points 3 days ago

It took the EU to force Apple to allow sideloading and Apple obviously implemented it horribly.

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You're from Android ecosystem right?

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