Report: Samsung, Google Censor LGBTQ Apps in South Korea

by JAMES S. KIM | @james_s_kim
editor@charactermedia.com

Samsung and Google have banned a number of gay social networking apps in South Korea and in other countries in recent years, BuzzFeed News reports.

In South Korea, the censoring largely appears to be in line with the country’s lack of legal and social acceptance of homosexuality, but the company’s policies aren’t exactly consistent across the board. Samsung rejected an application from the gay dating app, Hornet, to be included in its app store in 2013, according to a screening report acquired by BuzzFeed News. Hornet is available in the U.S. and most LGBTQ-friendly countries through Samsung’s app store, although it remains banned in Iceland and Argentina, where same-sex marriage is legal.

Samsung’s Certification Team said in the report that Hornet could not be listed in South Korea “due to the local moral values or laws [regarding] LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi sexual, Transgender) content.” The team also listed the app’s icon and screenshots, some of which depicted users “partially clothed,” as not appropriate for all ages.

However, in the South Korean Google Play store, where majority of Android users (and Samsung smartphone users) download their apps, gay networking apps such as Hornet, Grindr and Scruff are available. Google did, however, remove the most popular gay dating app, Jack’d, a few years ago, apparently without notifying its developer. That hasn’t stopped the more than 500,000 reported South Korean users, who may be utilizing openly available VPN services to make it appear their phone is logging in from another country.

A Samsung spokesperson did acknowledge that the company does limit content in certain countries based on their respective “local laws and customs” and is”continuing to update [their] policies.”

Though South Korea remains largely anti-LGBTQ, a study by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies earlier this year found that younger South Koreans in their 20s and 30s are becoming more open-minded about LGBTQ issues. Older Koreans largely remain homophobic, with a vocal conservative contingent backed by the powerful Protestant church.

Politicians tend to follow suit, and tackling the issue is considered career-suicide for them. Seoul mayor Park Won-soon, a former human rights lawyer, reportedly told the San Francisco Examiner last October that he hoped to see South Korea become the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage, and as expected, his remarks drew heavy controversy. Park later backtracked on the comments, saying he did not intend to legalize same-sex marriage, but that “maybe” South Korea would become the first country to do so.

See Also

 

Christian Groups Drum Up Protest Against Seoul’s LGBTQ Pride Parade

Gay Rights Activists in Korea Step Up to Support LGBTQ Youth

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Featured image via Queerty/Twitter


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