China Removes Two Major Gay Dating Apps: A New Phase of Digital Repression

November 12, 2025 – At the request of the Chinese government, two of the country’s largest gay-dating applications, Blued and Finka, have been pulled from the domestic App Store and major Android marketplaces. The move marks another step in the tightening grip on LGBTQ+ visibility in China, where queer identity is increasingly framed as a threat to “social harmony.”

The Apps: Blued and Finka

Blued, once the world’s largest gay-dating app, counted an estimated 56 million users inside China. Beyond dating, it served as a social network and health platform, offering HIV-testing programmes and tele-medicine for sexual health. Finka, with 2.7 million users, was a smaller but popular competitor.

Both apps are now unavailable for new downloads in China. Users who already installed them can still open the software, but without updates or support.

Official Reason: “We Follow the Law”

Apple confirmed the takedown came via a direct order from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), Beijing’s top internet censor. In a statement the company said:

“We are required to follow the laws in the countries where we operate. Based on an order from the CAC, these apps have been removed from the China App Store.”

Apple stressed that the apps were removed only in China. Finka had already withdrawn from other markets, while Blued operated exclusively inside the country.

A Pattern of Repression

The disappearance of Blued and Finka is not an isolated incident. It fits a years-long campaign against queer visibility:

• Grindr was pulled from Chinese stores in 2022.
• In 2017, all LGBTQ+ content was banned from online audio-visual platforms.
• In 2018, Weibo tried to purge queer topics, reversing the decision only after nationwide online protests.
• In 2025, same-sex marriage remains unrecognised, and activists are still surveilled, intimidated or detained as “subversive elements.”

The Impact: A Community Pushed into the Shadows

For many Chinese gay men, dating apps are more than hook-up tools; they are often the only safe space to be themselves, especially in rural areas where queer bars or community centres do not exist. With Blued and Finka gone, that lifeline—literal and figurative—has been severed.

Moreover, without official downloads, a black market for accounts and install files is already emerging. After Blued suspended new registrations in July 2025, users paid up to $20 for second-hand accounts on Chinese e-commerce sites.

The Paradox: From Partner to Pariah

Remarkably, Blued once enjoyed government support. In 2012 founder Ma Baoli even met Li Keqiang—now China’s premier—to discuss HIV prevention, a meeting widely seen as tacit approval of the platform.

Under today’s ideological climate, however, where “Western influences” such as queer identity are expunged, that endorsement has evaporated. The non-profit arm of Blued, which still runs HIV-testing campaigns, was praised by Beijing’s Communist Party only weeks ago—yet the apps themselves could not be saved.

Conclusion: A Digital Vanishing Act

China decriminalised homosexuality in 1997, but official policy today is one of “no encouragement, no discouragement, no promotion”—which in practice amounts to systematic invisibility.

By erasing Blued and Finka from app stores, the state has not simply deleted software; it has deleted a piece of queer existence from the digital landscape. And that is no bug—it is a feature.