China Allegedly Bans Steam’s LGBTQ+ Tag for Breaching Local Laws

Reports circulating on social media indicate that the “LGBTQ+” tag has been restricted on Steam in China. While Valve has not yet provided an official response or confirmed these claims, users attempting to access games with the LGBTQ+ tag in China have encountered an error message stating that the content has been flagged as “inappropriate” for violating local laws and regulations.

These reports, highlighted by a user on a gaming forum, primarily originate from the Chinese social media platform Weibo. A Weibo user noted on June 24 that “Developers, please take note: Steam has now locked the LGBTQ+ tag in the Chinese region. Reverse searches no longer show the game” (translated from Chinese).

On June 24, a user discovered that Steam users in China can no longer access the LGBTQ+ tag on the client. The page indicates that the content has been marked as inappropriate due to “violating local laws and regulations.”

According to the forum user, when trying to manually search for the LGBTQ+ tag with a Steam account registered in China, an error message appears: “An error occurred while processing your request: The content on this page has been identified as inappropriate because it violates local laws and regulations, and therefore cannot be viewed from your current location.”

Valve has not commented on the situation or confirmed the validity of these reports, but such actions would not be unexpected. Although homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997 and gender-affirming surgery is legal under strict conditions, numerous LGBTQ+ advocacy groups have been shut down in the country over the past decade.

Valve has a history of adhering to regional laws and guidelines on the Steam platform. Earlier this year, a developer revealed that Valve reprimanded her after several of her yuri visual novels were removed from the Russian Steam storefront. Additionally, the horror game Devotion was taken down from China’s Steam store in 2019 due to an in-game artwork that appeared to compare China’s president, Xi Jinping, to Winnie the Pooh, labeling him as a “moron.”

Attempts to reach Steam for comment have gone unanswered.