In recent months we have reported on a series of crackdowns by the Chinese government, as it looks to have greater control over what people within its borders view and interact with online.

The latest service to fall victim is LGBTQ dating app Grindr, which has reportedly been removed from app stores.

This according to Bloomberg (paywall), which says the dating app has been wiped from online mobile marketplaces on 27th January, with the Apple App Store and Google Play Store no longer listing it.

While the Chinese government is yet to comment on the matter at the time of writing, the potential reason for the removal is not all that surprising, with there said to be a tightening of restrictions on any content deemed to be “ill-natured” in the lead up to the Beijing Winter Olympics this month.

As The Verge points out, homosexuality in China is not illegal, but is still viewed as taboo by large swathes of society. Added to this are increasingly intolerant policies being rolled out targeting the LGBTQ community in particular.

What makes all this news rather peculiar, outside of purposely marginalising a segment of society, is the fact that Grindr’s majority stake is owned by a Chinese-based company – Beijing Kunlun Tech.

Where tech companies and apps that have previously been wiped from Chinese online marketplaces having to find footings elsewhere, it will be intriguing to see what happens to Grindr, given the fact that its owners have a vested interest within the Southeast Asian country.

For now, neither Apple nor Google have officially commented on the matter, but given how both companies have acquiesced to Chinese demands in the past, this likely will not be the hill they choose to die on.