LGBTQ dating app aims to protect closeted athletes by disabling location features at Olympic facilities
LGBTQ+ Community Grindr dating app is restricting some of its features in Paris. Olympic to help protect the safety of athletes who are remaining anonymous.
With cardboard bed And wide selection of foodSocial media users at the Olympics were also quick to notice that Grindr Some features have been disabled. for users at the Olympic Village. The company confirmed the restrictions on Wednesday.
Grindr, which claims to be on a mission to provide a “global gay community“in your pocket, say on Wednesday blog post that it will disable location-based features like “Discover” and “Roaming.” Those features help users match with people in specific areas, but won’t be available to people in Olympic villages and sports facilities. The “show distance” feature, which shows how close a given user is, will also be off by default, though it can be turned on.
The company imposed similar restrictions for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and said Wednesday it would reinstate the changes for this year’s competition, which officially begins Friday, to prevent athletes from being accidentally exposed.
“If an athlete is not out or is from a country where being LGBTQ+ is dangerous or illegal, using Grindr could put them at risk of being discovered by curious individuals who may attempt to identify and expose them on the app,” the company wrote in a blog post.
In addition to restricting location-based elements, the app will give users in the Olympic Village free access to premium features that allow them to send unlimited disappearing messages and unsend direct messages at any time. Private videos will also be disabled, and users will no longer be able to take screenshots of profiles or media in private chats, according to the blog post.
Instead regular in-app advertisingGrindr will use this space to promote its health and safety resources. The company said it will send resources to users weekly, reminding them that using the app in the Olympic Village could be dangerous.
Grindr downloads in France have been largely flat since mid-July, but jumped 25% week-over-week on Wednesday, when most athletes arrived in Paris for the competition, according to market research firm Sensor Tower. Other dating apps like Tinder and Hinge also saw downloads increase by 10% and 7% week-over-week in France on July 20, Sensor Tower found.
According to statistics, there were at least 144 LGBTQ+ athletes participating in the Paris Olympics, and at least 29 athletes representing the United States in sports such as track and field, basketball and football. human rights campaign.
The safety of LGBTQ+ athletes has become even more important after an outspoken reporter from Daily Beast has been heavily criticized for publishing a article where he used Grindr to meet gay athletes during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The post was later deleted.
For its part, Grindr has faced controversy in the past for sharing users’ sexual orientation and location. with advertisers.
When asked for comment, Grindr directed Luck public blog post about the feature changes. The company did not immediately respond to questions about how it would restrict the feature to specific areas like the Olympic Village.
Fabrice Houdart, a professor at Georgetown University and executive director of the LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors Association, said Luck that the steps Grindr takes to protect athletes are important because an athlete’s sexual orientation can in some cases be used to intimidate or discredit them. He noted that Grindr has also been used in France by people who want to attack gay men, as the French newspaper world reported in May.
Because widespread discriminationWhile it could be worse depending on the country, Houdart said companies like Grindr are right to step up their proactive safety measures.
“Whether they’re Olympic athletes or just random people who might get robbed or assaulted because they used the app, it’s clear that it’s their responsibility,” Houdart said. “It’s encouraging that they’re taking action because it means they recognize that they have a responsibility.”
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