China’s biggest gay dating app wants to beat Grindr

//Facing censorship and competition at home, Blued has plans to build the world’s largest gay social platform.

But users and researchers have questioned the app’s prospects under its new ownership, given Blued’s past failed attempts to expand into Western markets and the difficulties it will face in differentiating itself from competitors abroad. “It’s an uphill battle. The gay dating app market in the U.S. is quite saturated,” Lik Sam Chan, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who researches the politics of dating apps in China, told Rest of World. “I don’t see Blued offering anything unique that other existing international gay apps do not provide.”

…Blued users lashed out at Geng Le on social media after they found out about the paywall for disappearing photos. He later explained in an online post that he had already left his job, and was not involved in the decision. Without Geng Le, China’s most prominent gay tech entrepreneur, Blued is losing touch with users in its home market, said Chan, the dating app researcher.//

Full article: https://bit.ly/3Q4kGpE (Rest of World)