By Reuters Staff
BEIJING (Reuters) – a favorite Chinese relationship app for lesbians is turn off, along side its web site and main social media account, in the same way the homosexual community celebrates Taiwan’s decision offering same-sex partners the proper to marry, a primary for Asia.
The application, Rela, put up in 2012, has around 5 million new users, a version that is cached of entry on Apple’s iTunes web site shows.
But users started observing the other day that the application, along side its Twitter-like Weibo account and web site, had been no further available, relating to users publishing on Weibo underneath the hashtags #rela and #relahasbeenblocked.
The solution had been temporarily suspended as a result of a “important modification in solution,” Rela told users on its WeChat software account.
“Rela is definitely with you and please await its return!” it added, but offered no information on why it absolutely was suspending solution.
“This is discrimination against us lesbians,” wrote one individual on Weibo.
“Not having the ability to start it feels as though being jilted,” composed another.
It absolutely was maybe perhaps not immediately clear why Rela happens to be shut down.
The business would not answer a contact comment that is seeking. Apple would not instantly react to a request remark.
Internet regulator the Cyberspace management of Asia additionally failed to straight away answer a faxed ask for touch upon Monday, that will be a holiday that is national.
The government has blocked sites it deems could challenge Communist Party rule or threaten stability, including Western sites such as Facebook and Google’s main search engine and Gmail service in the past.
It’s not unlawful to be homosexual in Asia, even though nation regarded homosexuality as being a disorder that is mental 2001. Numerous big cities have actually thriving homosexual scenes, but homosexual people nevertheless face plenty of household stress to have married and now have kids.
Gay activists state profoundly conservative attitudes towards homosexuality in a few areas of culture have added to periodic federal government clampdowns.
In April, another gay Chinese dating app, Zank, has also been turn off after operating for around four years.
In an email on its Weibo account, which can be nevertheless available, Zank stated it turned out accused by the world wide web regulator of broadcasting pornographic content and therefore have been closed down.
Nevertheless, homosexual relationship apps are big business, also for Chinese organizations.
A week ago Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd stated it can choose the staying stake in international gay relationship software Grindr that it did not own.
Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Cate Cadell, and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
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