U.S. national-security officials have ordered a Chinese company to sell gay-dating app Grindr, signaling that a range of social-media companies and apps is now off limits to Chinese buyers.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., known as Cfius, believes Grindr’s Chinese owner, Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd. 300418, +1.75% , could share information about its users with the Chinese government, which could exploit it for espionage purposes, according to people familiar with the matter.