Malaysia has blocked access to the LGBTQ+ networking apps Grindr and Blued. It’s just the latest move in the Southeast Asian country’s ongoing anti-LGBTQ+ crackdown.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), which oversees the country’s internet, blocked the apps and said it may engage with Google and Apple, the technology companies that distribute the apps on their smartphones. The MCMC also said it is “examining several legislative measures to curb these applications,” the South China Morning Post reported.

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Its Pride month & I have never been so afraid. I live in Malaysia.

“The MCMC will take action against content or application functions that violate domestic laws, including those involving the spread of pornographic or immoral content, exploitation or abuse, fraud, child abuse or threats to public safety,” the MCMC said. Its statement was in response to a parliament member who accused the apps of facilitating “deviant” relationships.

In reality, male-identified individuals use Blued and Grindr for sex and dating as well as to make friends, communicate with users around the world, explore social events online and in real life, and to develop support networks. Censoring the app will increasingly isolate Malaysian men, making it more difficult to form meaningful relationships

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Life is getting worse for LGBTQ Malaysians

Like one-fourth of the world, Malaysia’s anti-gay laws were originally imported by British colonizers. In the modern era, powerful Muslim clerics and politicians have used the laws to whip up outrage and support among conservative citizens. Recently, anti-LGBTQ sentiment in the country has gotten louder and deadlier.

In 2011, Malaysian school authorities sent 66 Muslim teenage boys to a correctional camp to learn “masculine behaviors” after their teachers identified them as “effeminate.” In 2012, the country banned gay characters from all national TV shows and radio programs.

In 2013, the Malaysian government sponsored a touring musical, entitled Asmara Songsang (Abnormal Desire), to teach young people about the dangers of being queer. In 2015, Human Rights Watch criticized Malaysia for fining and imprisoning transgender women.

In June 2017, the country’s health offered its citizens cash prizes for making anti-LGBTQ videos. The following month, a hardline national Muslim group told its 50,000 members to oppose Starbucks for the coffeehouse chain’s pro-LGBTQ workplace policies. That same year, an 18-year-old boy was beaten with helmets, burned, shot in the groin and declared brain dead by medical authorities — his classmates had attacked him for being “effeminate.”

In August 2018, police in Kuala Lumpur raided the gay bar Blue Boy — afterwards the Federal Territory ministry claimed the arrests were meant to “stop the spread of LGBTQ culture in society.” That same month, authorities sentenced two women to public caning for “attempted sexual relations.”

Since 2019, multiple trans women in Malaysia have also been beaten, hospitalized, or killed by violent mobs. That same year, four men between the ages of 26 and 37 were publicly caned for having a consensual same-sex encounter behind closed doors.

In March 2019, Tourism Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi claimed there are no queer or trans people in Malaysia, a statement which drew condemnation from the country’s LGBTQ community. Despite the country’s anti-LGBTQ actions, it still hosts an annual Seksualiti Merdeka (Independent Sexuality) festival, though politicians have increasingly tried to prevent it from occurring.

In 2023, authorities cancelled a music festival in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur after male members of the band The 1975 kissed on stage. The government also confiscated Pride-themed watches made by the Swiss company Swatch; a judge later required the watches to be released, but forbade their resale.

In 2024, the leading Malaysian newspaper Sinar Harian published a list of ways to spot a gay man or a lesbian. The paper said that gay men have beards, wear brand-name clothing, and go to the gym to scope out other men. For lesbians, the newspaper said to look out for women who hug each other, hold hands, and disparage men.

In November 2025, Malaysian authorities raided an alleged “gay spa” in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, resulting in the arrest of 200 individuals. None of the men were convicted under colonial-era prohibitions on “carnal knowledge” between men. That same year, a Malaysian broadcaster removed an episode of the children’s cartoon Santiago of the Seas from its network after viewers complained about a same-sex kiss.

Earlier this year, Malaysia’s Religious Affairs Minister Zulkifli Hasan was widely mocked online for claiming that workplace stress can turn people gay.

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