5:50 PM PT -- A source close to Daphne Joy is providing some clarity, telling TMZ ... she deleted the rape allegation post in an attempt to smooth things over with 50 Cent, for the sake of their son. It appears 50 has also taken down his posts about Daphne.

We've learned Daphne's hired attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan, and reached out to him for comment ... but no word back.

Interesting development between Daphne Joy and 50 Cent ... she's scrubbed her social media post accusing him of rape amid the rapper's ongoing lawsuit over that very post.

Here's the deal ... Daphne, the mother to 50 Cent's son Sire, publicly accused the rapper of raping and physically abusing her in a March 28 Instagram post. 50 immediately denied the claim, and then in May he sued her for defamation.

Now, Daphne's post has been deleted from her official IG account. It's unclear exactly when she took it down, or why ... but it's gone.

Sources familiar with the situation tell TMZ … Daphne removing the post has nothing to do with 50 Cent's lawsuit. We're told there's been no settlement, and he's moving forward with the case.

Daphne made the rape claim against 50 in the wake of a lawsuit filed against Diddy ... in which Daphne was accused of being a "sex worker" for Diddy. 50 Cent reacted on Instagram by posting captions like, "I didn't know you was a sex worker, 👀 you little sex worker. LOL 😆."

Following that allegation she was once a "sex worker" ... 50 filed to get full custody of Sire from Daphne. The court has yet to decide on that matter.

Daphne then lit up 50 with a post of her own, saying ... "Let's put the real focus on your true evil actions of raping me and physically abusing me."

We've reached out to Daphne, but have not heard back from her. It will be interesting to see if her deletion of the post prompts any peace talks with 50 Cent.

We also reached out to reps for 50, but they had no comment.