Same-sex marriage is not legal in China and discrimination remains widespread, with activists saying an effort to suppress LGBTQ expression has expanded in recent years, particularly under President Xi Jinping.

Over the weekend, Chinese social media users pointed out that the full versions of apps Blued and Finka, which share a Hong Kong-based owner, had disappeared from the Apple and Android stores.

"Based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China, we have removed these two apps from the China storefront only," an Apple spokesperson told AFP.

China's cyberspace administration (CAC) is the government's national internet regulator and top censor. In recent months it has penalised social media platforms over content management.

"We follow the laws in the countries where we operate," the Apple spokesperson said.

Earlier this year, the developer of Finka had "elected to remove the app from storefronts outside of China, and Blued was available only in China", the spokesperson added.

AFP was unable to immediately reach the CAC or the apps' owner for comment.

On Tuesday, an express version of Blued remained available to download from Apple's Chinese app store.

An international version of Blued, called HeeSay, was still available to download outside China.

HeeSay tells users they will join "54 million LGBTQ+ individuals worldwide", according to a description in Apple's app store.

Popular gay dating app Grindr was removed from Chinese stores in 2022, coinciding with a CAC clean-up campaign before the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Blued had remained available to download at the time.

ll-em-mya/reb

Apple