According to Apple, Chinese officials ordered the removal of two popular gay dating apps from mobile stores in the country.

Same-sex marriage is not legal in China and discrimination remains widespread, with activists saying an effort to suppress LGBTQ expression has expanded in recent years, particularly under President Xi Jinping.

Over the weekend, Chinese social media users pointed out that the full versions of the apps Blued and Finka, which share a Hong Kong-based owner, had disappeared from the Apple and Android stores.

An Apple spokesman said: “Based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), we have removed these two apps from the China storefront only.”

The CAC is the government’s national internet regulator and top censor. In recent months, it has penalised social media platforms over content management.

“We follow the laws in the countries where we operate.”

Earlier this year, the developer of Finka had “elected to remove the app from storefronts outside of China, and Blued was available only in China”, the spokesperson added.

On Tuesday, an express version of Blued remained available to download from Apple’s Chinese app store.

And while the full versions have been pulled from stores, existing users say the apps do not appear to be blocked.