New Law in China Leads Grindr to Leave App Store There
The Advocate. Google Play, the app store for Android platforms, is not available in China, Lenihan added.There was speculation earlier that Grindr was the victim of a government crackdown on LGBTQ+ content ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, scheduled to begin Friday.The PIPL, which went into effect November 1, "limits personal information stored in apps and requires data transferred between China and other regions to be approved by the Chinese government," according to the Bloomberg news service, which was one of the first to report the app's removal from Apple, which took place last week.
Not all provisions of the law were implemented immediately, but tech companies and legal experts have said they foresee problems with compliance.China-based competitors, such as Blued, remain available.
Grindr is based in the U.S., having been sold to an American company by its Chinese owner in 2020.There are some fears about further regulation of LGBTQ+ content by China.
The nation’s Cyberspace Administration last week announced that it was stepping up efforts against content that it considers pornographic or otherwise unacceptable, Bloomberg notes.China decriminalized homosexuality 25 years ago, and many of its major cities have thriving LGBTQ+ scenes, but the country is still an unfriendly place for LGBTQ+ people in many ways.
