The US digital giant Google has withdrawn from its online shops in Indonesia one of the most used gay dating applications in the world, at the request of the authorities, said a spokesman Wednesday.
In January, the Indonesian Ministry of Communications called on Google to remove 73 LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) apps from its online Play Store, including dating services, and urged people to avoid using apps. does not correspond to the social and cultural norms of the most populous Muslim country in the world.
As a result, Blued – an application and social network that has more than 27 million users worldwide – is no longer available in the Google Play online store for Indonesian users, said a spokesman for the ministry. , Noor Iza.
“There was negative content in this app related to pornography. No doubt one or more users of the application have put pornographic content, “said the spokesman to AFP, without further details.
Google declined to comment.
On Wednesday, the Blued app was still available in the online store of Apple, another US giant of the internet.
According to the Indonesian daily Kompas quoting the ministry spokesman, 14 other LGBT applications have also been removed from Google’s online store in Indonesia.
Gay relationships are legal in Indonesia, with the exception of Aceh, the only province in the Southeast Asian archipelago that applies Islamic law (sharia).
However, Indonesian police frequently use strict anti-pornography laws to crack down on members of the LGBT community.
The removal of these applications comes against a background of increasing hostility towards the LBGT community in Indonesia. For some time now, ministers, conservatives and Islamist groups have publicly made homophobic statements.
Last December, ten men were sentenced to two years in prison for participating in a homosexual party in a sauna in the capital Jakarta.
