A Chinese lesbian dating app with more than five million users has been shut down.
A Chinese lesbian dating app with more than five million users has been shut down.
Rela’s website and main social media account were also taken offline at some point last week, according to Reuters.
The move quashes some of the optimism felt in the Chinese LGBT community after the highest court in Taiwan ordered its parliament to legalise same-sex marriage.
China’s state-run news agency Xinhua said the ruling had “caused controversy”.
It also shows the current limits of progress in the country, after a Chinese tech company completed its buy-out of dating app Grindr last week.
Beijing Kunlun Tech finalised the acquisition after initially investing in the app, popular with gay and bisexual men around in the world, back in January 2016.
As well as its app and website, Rela has also had its page taken down from Weibo, a social media site with characteristics of Facebook and Twitter which around one-third of Chinese people use.
The page had around 200,000 fans, according to a cached version of the website.
Rela, first released in 2012, was temporarily suspended because of an “important adjustment in service, ” the company told users on its WeChat app.
“Rela has always been with you and please await its return!” it added, without giving any details about why the service had been suspended.
