The Meteoric Rise and Fall of a Gay Dating Giant
▼ Summary
– Blued was once the world’s largest gay dating app, founded in China by Ma Baoli, a former police officer who came out at work after a decade of running a gay online forum.
– Ma Baoli’s story exemplifies the complex navigation of China’s internet, where platforms can rapidly gain popularity and then face shutdowns under shifting state controls.
– The book *The Wall Dancers* uses the idiom “to dance with shackles” to describe how individuals operate within and resist China’s stringent online censorship.
– Ma Baoli strategically legitimized Blued by collaborating with government agencies, like the Center for Disease Control, to address public health within the gay community.
– A key moment in Blued’s history was a 2012 public handshake and photo with Li Keqiang, which Ma used to frame the app as politically recognized and worthy of investment.
The story of Blued, once the world’s largest gay dating app, is a remarkable tale of navigating China’s complex digital landscape. Its journey from a niche online forum to a Nasdaq-listed giant, and its subsequent challenges, encapsulates the precarious dance between innovation and regulation within the country’s internet ecosystem. The app’s founder, Ma Baoli, leveraged a unique understanding of state priorities to build a platform that, for a time, thrived in a politically sensitive space.
Ma’s background was unconventional. For a decade, he managed a prominent online forum for gay men while simultaneously working as a police officer, only coming out to his colleagues after the forum had gained significant traction. This dual life within both a marginalized community and the government apparatus gave him a distinct perspective. He became adept at identifying the narrow overlap between state objectives and the needs of his users, a skill crucial for survival and growth.
This savvy was perfectly illustrated in 2012. Ma Baoli secured a high-profile meeting and handshake with Li Keqiang, who was then the executive vice premier and would become China’s premier months later. Ma frequently cited this encounter as a powerful symbol of legitimacy, framing Blued not as a platform for social outcasts but as a venture worthy of political recognition and serious investment. It was a masterstroke in public relations within the Chinese context.
The app’s origins were deeply tied to this strategy of establishing official credibility. Upon moving to Beijing, Ma proactively reached out to government health authorities. He presented Blued’s access to a vast community of men who have sex with men as a public health opportunity, proposing partnerships for awareness campaigns. This move aligned his platform’s growth with state goals, a critical step in its early development.
Ma’s story is a central narrative in journalist Yi-Ling Liu’s book, The Wall Dancers, which examines the constant negotiation between control and freedom online in China. The title metaphor, “dancing with shackles”, describes the intricate maneuvers individuals and companies must perform to operate within shifting boundaries. Blued’s history is a textbook case: a service that could surge in popularity one year and face intense scrutiny the next, as the rules of the game continually changed.
Ultimately, Blued’s trajectory demonstrates how success on the Chinese internet is often temporary and conditional. Founders must be expert “dancers,” anticipating regulatory shifts and aligning their operations with state interests where possible. Ma Baoli’s ability to do this, from a police officer running a secret forum to a CEO shaking hands with a future premier, allowed Blued to achieve a scale once thought impossible. Its rise and the pressures it later faced reveal the fragile, negotiated space where technology, community, and state power intersect.
(Source: Wired)
