In 2014, Delaware police arrested 33-year-old gay adult performer Mike Dozer (birth name Christopher Steele) for having sex with a 14-year-old Pennsylvania boy he met on Grindr. While shocking, this is hardly the only case of underage sex and statutory rape that has occurred on hookup and dating apps.
The Guardian reports that English police have “investigated more than 30 cases of child rape since 2015 where victims evaded age checks on dating apps.” The Sunday Times has also found 60 other cases involving victims as young as eight years of age.
As a result, Jeremy Wright, U.K. Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said he will contact Grindr and Tinder to ask “what measures they have in place to keep children safe from harm, including verifying their age.”
He added, “If I’m not satisfied with their response, I reserve the right to take further action.”
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Grindr’s official policies prohibit anyone under 18 from creating an account, but it’s still easy for underage people to do so.
A spokesperson from Grindr said, “Any account of sexual abuse or other illegal behavior is troubling to us as well as a clear violation of our terms of service. Our team is constantly working to improve our digital and human screening tools to prevent and remove improper underage use of our app.”
Like Tinder, Grindr depends on human moderators and users to help report underage activity, but some minors still use the service undetected. We’ve also reached out to Grindr to find out what else they’re doing to prevent underage exploitation. They have yet to respond.
Related: An entire nation just shut off Grindr
Wright’s possible investigation into Grindr and Tinder is just the latest volley against adult sites in the contemporary panic over sex trafficking and child exploitation. Most recently, the U.K. passed a law for adult websites requiring users to prove their age with official government ID, effectively creating a hackable database of user info.
In March 2018, the U.S. Congress passed the so-called Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act and Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA/FOSTA), a bipartisan-approved bill which holds online companies liable for any user-posted content that could possibly be seen as facilitating sex work. The bill potentially affects websites and apps even if they’re based in countries outside of the United States.
As a result, Tumblr has committed a mass purge of all “adult content” in which it flagged tasteful images of shirtless men as inappropriate. The hook-up app Scruff recently announced its users can no longer post images of themselves in skimpy clothing. Craigslist closed its personals section last year and even Facebook has issued new guidelines forbidding users from discussing their sexual lives.
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Vince
Big effing whoop. Yes kids will lie to get on the app. Just like it’s always been. Parents just need to be parents and watch their young’uns.
RIGay
No shit! The problem is that the kids know more about gaming the system than the parents could ever understand, and when you are young and the hormones are raging…
Back in my day, we knew which dumpsters behind the local news stand that would pitch the old Penthouse magazines in, and on which day of the month we could dumpster dive to find our next piece of whacking material.
Same idea, different technology… different era.
Bob LaBlah
@RiGay…….remember the good ol’ days when there were cruising spots such as parks, shopping malls and video arcades? All have more or less gone the way of the dodo (and the way things are going so will gay bars too).
Kangol
True, Vince, but what about teens whose families kick them out for being gay, bi, trans or gender-nonconforming? They’re on their own, and they can–and some do–sign onto sites like Grindr etc. to meet men for sex work, in part to survive, or they’re vulnerable to being trafficked for money, because they have no social or economic support. It’s not as cut and dry as “parents just need to be parents”; you’d be surprised at the number of teens living on the streets, in shelters, etc. because their parents through them out, and this is a problem not just in the big cities and suburbs, but all over the country.
IAMBROWN
how the hell are kids getting on Grindr? (Stupid question I know). Where are the parents? I remember reading about Mike Dozer and thinking he shouldn’t be the only one held accountable. Shouldn’t the parents be held accountable as well? By no means am I defending Mr. Dozer. He definitely should’ve known better but It upsets me that kids get on apps with intent… don’t they have chores? Homework? Etc. where are the parents? And why aren’t they monitoring their kids or at best educating themselves and their kids on the dangers of dating apps. This is some crazy shit!
mcs
Where are the parents? At work, probably…
Kangol
As I said to Vince, what about teens whose families kick them out for being gay, bi, trans or gender-nonconforming? There’s also the issue of kids with parents on drugs (opioids, meth, etc.) mental illness, you name it. `They’re on their own, and they can–and some do–sign onto sites like Grindr etc. to meet men for sex work, in part to survive, or they’re vulnerable to being trafficked for money, because they have no social or economic support. These apps need to do a better job of verifying age, because not all kids have parental support, unfortunately.
IAMBROWN
@kangol Good points. And thanks for enlightening. I didn’t think of the kids in these situations. Either way it’s all just sad. I agree apps need to do better.
Bob LaBlah
The book was thrown at Dozer more for his having HIV than having sex with a fourteen year old who admitted he did not know for sure how many men he had raw sex with. I feel no remorse for “kids” who post video of themselves in sex acts with each other or solo on websites that they clearly lied claiming they were old enough to be on them.
Vince
Bob there was a ring of men caught up in the dozer case and since none of them were sentenced to anything remotely close to Dozer I would say yes the hiv played a big part. I think he got at least 20 years prison. Dozer also stupidly brought up the kids age on the text record so no he didn’t know defense.
Dozers Boyfriend at the time committed suicide to avoid punishment.
Bob LaBlah
And that was just the Dozer case. Imagine how many more guys he’s been with and how many orgies he participated in before Dozer came along. I bet that kid even brought along his own party supplies.
Vince
I get hit up on Grindr and Scruff from time to time from under aged kids. I immediately block them. I get when accidents happen like when they lie. However, some of these guys knew his age and should’ve known better.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Yet another example of the right wing nutbag smcubags attempts to impose their will on every American. Two states have passed resolutions declaring porn a “crisis”. ….
Bob LaBlah
Plays Well, I know how right wing I sound this comment but it is my opinion. I think the whole porn-thing HAS gotten out of hand. People are putting up videos showing themselves “slamming” (some times slamming orgies) and then having raw sex with b r e e d i n g as the climatic end. It seriously is a “who cares” environment on ALL of those sites. Some of them look like lovers, other appear to be tricks or hookups who don’t care as long as they don’t have to pay to party. How much more direct can it get if a person has included PNP in bold letters on their profile page or in the thumbnail heading on their posted video for all to see? No, it has reached the point where its time to consider whether or not to censor some of this material because its now everywhere.
Vince
I don’t believe in government censorship. However, we have entered new territory with the stuff you brought up. I would think the Police would get involved since their filming illegal acts. How hard would it be to get their IP addresses and pay them a visit?
Bob LaBlah
Vince, the writing is on the wall. The free porn sites make money by advertising. They are soon going to have to ban together and start some serious lobbying if they plan to be in business much longer. What happened on the hookup sites should be a clear omen for them to see their demise is no longer over the horizon but can now be clearly seen if they don’t act now.
Aromaeus
Why wasn’t Grindr shut down when the new law was enacted like craigslist personals was?
surreal33
Vince you and your ilk are vile pigs.
You trying justify have sex will children and it is beneath contempt.
I don’t care how any misguided children ends up on a sex site as adults you not allow to have sex with him or her.
Yes there are alot of inept parents that does not give you and your ilk the right to have sex with children.
Karma will take care you and ilk when you least expect it.
Chrisk
You might want to try re-reading Vinces comments because not once did I hear him advocate sex with children. Stop being an ignorant little douche.
surreal33
Chrisk did I hit a nerve? Is there a deep dark perversion in your life? Yes Vince did not come out say sex with children is okay. He made a glaring implication by blaming the underage child for being on a sex site. As well as blaming inept parents. Reading between the lines he blamed everyone except the most culpable party the adult sexual abusing a child.
Chrisk
Keep digging dipshit or should I say Danny595.