Regulators Aren’t Sweet On ‘Sugar Daddy’ App

American dating platform SeekingArrangement (SA) is expected to hit regulatory obstacles in China after achieving rapid popularity.

SA connects men or women looking for financial support or a taste of luxury living — known as “sugar babies” — with people, often older, who are willing to provide it — known as “sugar daddies” or “mommies.”

SA’s official account on Chinese social network app WeChat was suspended by the government on Monday for “eroticism,” a person with the knowledge of the matter told Caixin.

A day after the suspension, its app was the most downloaded social networking app on Apple’s China App Store, up 765 places on a list compiled by app-tracker App Annie. It has since remained in at the top spot and is still downloadable and operational as of Friday.

The app is set to face a crackdown in the near future, said Pu Yang, an analyst at the China Net Think Tank. He previously worked at the Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, which oversees online content.

It usually takes five to 10 working days for the office to issue a ban on apps that violate their rules, Pu said.

The platform has advocated some questionable values and it promotes ideas which cannot be advertised in China, according to Wang Sixin, a professor at the Communication University of China who heads a research center on cyber-law and intellectual property.

As it has gained so much attention this week, the regulator will certainly feel the heat if it doesn’t take any action, Wang said.

SA did not immediately respond to Caixin’s request for comment. Its official Chinese website currently reads: “Please don’t be misled by the extremely untrue media reports,” and “SA Chinese has and will always create a social networking space for high-quality people with taste.”

In addition, its Shanghai-based entity, Yufa Technology Internet Co. Ltd., was labeled as engaging in “abnormal operations” on Tuesday, according to the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, which said the company was “unreachable.”

The backlash against SA highlights the mounting regulatory pressure on social media platforms in a country where sexual topics are closely monitored. Several popular apps, including news aggregator Toutiao and short video app Kuaishou, have been censured for content deemed to have violated “socialist values.”

SA, which endorses “mutually beneficial relationships” according to its official website, was first launched in the U.S. in 2006 and now has 10 million active users in 139 markets — but has constantly courted controversies. A 2009 New York Times article called it “a down-and-dirty marketplace.”

Its presence in China dates back to 2014, when news portal Sina reported that Beijing had more than 1,700 sugar daddies registered on SA, followed by Shanghai and Hong Kong.

In China, SA has rebranded sugar daddies or mommies as “successful people,” and sugar babies as “charming sweethearts.” The app name “Tianmi Dingzhi” means “custom-made sweetness.”

Contact reporter Coco Feng (renkefeng@caixin.com)