The world's most popular gay dating app Grindr has been caught up in the growing US-China tech rivalry, with the Chinese owners of the app reportedly being pushed by US regulators to divest it over national security concerns.

Key points: US regulators reportedly told Beijing Kunlun Grindr's Chinese ownership was a national security threat

US regulators reportedly told Beijing Kunlun Grindr's Chinese ownership was a national security threat Beijing Kunlun is now reportedly looking to sell the app

Beijing Kunlun is now reportedly looking to sell the app Grindr has about 7 million users worldwide and is popular in China

Grindr was acquired by Beijing Kunlun in 2016 in a deal worth well over $100 million, but is now reportedly looking to sell it after a US government agency informed the company Chinese ownership constituted a national security threat.

Beijing Kunlun did not immediately respond to requests to comment.

The move follows telecommunications equipment makers Huawei and ZTE being barred from government contracts in the US.

Grindr has about 7 million active users worldwide and is popular in China's gay community.

"There are a lot of users here, probably about the same number as its main local rival Blued, but I think the way Grindr operates is a bit more orderly," William Cheng, a Beijing-based user of the app, said.

National security concerns around users' personal information have been cited before by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), with a 2018 decision to block a Chinese takeover of transfer service Moneygram partly based on fears that US citizens, including military personnel, could be identified.

"An app like Grindr exposes a whole series of blackmail opportunities, and if there were to be an FBI or CIA person in the data, that data could be exploited," Elliott Zaagman, a US technology writer partly based in Beijing, said.

The US campaign to block and dissuade allies from using Huawei has prompted a strong response from Beijing, which accuses Washington of trying to hold back China's rise as a technology power.

The move against Chinese ownership of Grindr is unlikely to elicit anywhere near as strong a response from Chinese officials, but will play into broader sentiment that the US is unfairly targeting China.

"What is considered to be an OK area for Chinese investment and what isn't considered to be OK? — I don't think the US Government is making that very clear," Mr Zaagman said.

— with wires