- Dating app Grindr has vanished from Apple's App Store in China, Bloomberg reported.
- The app also can't be found on some Chinese Android stores, per the report.
- It comes as the Chinese government cracks down on online content ahead of the Winter Olympics.
Grindr – a dating app catering to gay, bi, trans, and queer people – has been removed from Apple's App Store in China, Bloomberg reported Monday.
The app is also unavailable on some Chinese Android app stores operated by companies including Tencent and Huawei, per Bloomberg.
Grindr disappeared from the iOS App Store on Thursday, according to records by mobile research company Qimai, cited by Bloomberg.
Grindr's local rivals, such as Blued, are still available on the Apple store and Android store, Bloomberg reported.
Bloomberg said it wasn't clear when Grindr was taken off the Android stores in China. It added that some Grindr users said they were having trouble sending and receiving messages over the past few weeks.
Grindr and Apple didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
China removed homosexuality from a list of mental disorders about twenty years ago, Bloomberg reported, but added that authorities in China have in the past restricted gay themes in entertainment and culture. In July, Chinese tech giant Tencent's WeChat deleted at least ten chat groups led by university gay rights groups on the messaging app.
The reported removal of Grindr comes one week after the Chinese government announced it was cracking down on online content – including soft pornography, violence, and celebrity gossip – ahead of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, which commence Friday.