China’s quiet yet decisive removal of its two largest gay dating platforms-Blued and Finka-from the Apple App Store marks the latest escalation in Beijing’s tightening control over LGBTQ expression and digital spaces. The decision, first reported by Wired and later confirmed by Apple, illustrates how China’s evolving political priorities, demographic anxieties, and ideological campaigns are converging on a community already under growing pressure.

While the apps remain functional for existing users, their disappearance from the store signals a broader message: LGBTQ visibility and community-building tools are increasingly unwelcome in an environment where the state-in its push to solidify “traditional family values”-views alternative lifestyles as threats to social order and national goals.

The removal of Blued and Finka did not come with a public explanation. Apple’s statement was terse: the company simply complied with an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the powerful internet regulator responsible for monitoring online content, data flows, and digital security.

The timeline is unclear, and Beijing rarely publishes records of such directives. But Chinese users quickly noticed over the weekend that the apps were no longer available for download. For a country with more than 1 billion smartphone users and a digital ecosystem that is central to social life, disappearance from the App Store effectively amounts to an erasure of public presence.

This incident is not an isolated case. It fits neatly into Beijing’s years-long trend of narrowing the space for LGBTQ groups. Although China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and removed it from its list of mental illnesses in 2001, legal recognition and cultural acceptance have stagnated or even regressed under the administration of President Xi Jinping.

Beijing’s........

© Blitz