Only Women and LesPark will disappear from Google Play in Russia

Most of them are still available in Russia

Since the beginning of April, Google has received at least five requests from Roskomnadzor demanding that it remove queer dating apps from the company's store. This is evidenced by data from the Lumen database, which was analyzed by Vorstka.

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So far, only one application is marked “not available in your country”

Two of the requests concern dating apps for lesbians - Only Women and LesPark , each of which has more than a million downloads. Only Women describes itself as "the leading lesbian dating app, trusted by millions of women around the world since 2011." LesPark, in addition to its dating app functions, offers the ability to blog and chat.

Roskomnadzor also demanded the removal of the gay dating app ChillApp , which has more than 100 thousand downloads on Google Play. It bills itself as “the only gay group meeting app.” “ChillApp is the perfect tool to help you easily find new friends,” says the app description.

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In addition, RKN demands that the YOLO and QLIST applications be removed. The first is for meeting people for threesomes, and the second is a guide to finding LGBTQ+ places around the world. YOLO has more than 100 thousand downloads, QLIST has more than 10 thousand.

Roskomnadzor sent requests to Google to remove these applications starting April 7. Currently, four of them are still available to users from Russia - only YOLO is marked “not available in your country.”

In 2024, police sent more than 130 cases of “LGBT” propaganda to the courts

Previously, “Verstka” reported that in 2024, police sent more than 130 cases of “LGBT” propaganda to the courts.

“Gay propaganda” has been punished in Russia for more than 10 years, but until December 2022, “propaganda” was prohibited only among minors. For the last two years, “LGBT propaganda” has been completely banned. In 2024, security forces used two articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses for punishment. Under Article 6.21.2, online cinemas and television channels are punished for not having the “prohibited for children” label on films and clips containing scenes of same-sex sexual relations. For this, the court may impose a fine of up to 4 million rubles or temporarily suspend the operation of the platform.

Under Article 6.21, in 2024 they were punished for anything: for public recognition of homosexual orientation, liking a video on Odnoklassniki, pictures and photos with a rainbow flag on social networks, saved music videos with same-sex kisses on VK, “non-male” clothes and colored hair.

Illustration: Only Women app logo

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