Location-based dating app Grindr has announced it’s ditching its ‘ethnicity filter’ when it next updates.
In a statement posted yesterday to its social media, the company said: “We will not be silent. Black lives matter.
“We were planning to announce our #PridePerseveres initiative today, but in light of the ongoing violence and injustices against our POC family, that no longer feels appropriate.
“How can we launch a month of celebration when so many of us are hurting? How can we celebrate Pride without acknowledging that we wouldn’t even HAVE a Pride month if it weren’t for the brave black, brown, trans, and queer folks whose uprising against the police at Stonewall gave birth to the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement? It is our responsibility to speak out against the hate and violence that such a vital part of our community continue to face.
“We stand in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement and the hundreds of thousands of queer people of color who log in to our app every day.”
It went on to say it was making donations to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute and Black Lives Matter.
Related: Grindr may soon have a coronavirus filter
“We will continue to fight racism on Grindr,” it continued, “both through dialogue with our community and a zero-tolerance policy for racism and hate speech on our platform. As part of this commitment, and based on your feedback, we have decided to remove the ethnicity filter from our next release.”
Users of Grindr can filter which other users are displayed on screen by such factors as ‘age’ and ‘Tribe’ (‘Bear’, ‘Clean-cut’, ‘Jock’, ‘Poz’, etc).
Those who pay for premium ‘Xtra’ membership can filter the other users displayed by further factors. These include who’s currently online, relationship status, and attributes like weight, height, body type, and, more controversially, by ethnicity.
Grindr has long been criticized for not doing enough to combat racism on the app. In late 2018, it launched its #KindrGrindr campaign, to encourage users to stop making statements such as “no blacks and no Asians” on their profiles.
However, many users remained unhappy that it continued to offer an ethnicity filter, allowing users to filter out ethnic groups of their choice.
Last week, protests and riots began to kick off in the US following the death on May 25 of an African American man, George Floyd, 46, at the hands of Minneapolis police.
The encounter, in which a white cop knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes, was captured on video, prompting widespread fury and condemnation. The cop has since been arrested and charged with murder, but protests over police brutality in systemic racism have continued.
Related: Police arrest nine men in “pot for sex” Grindr sting operation, publish mugshots in newspaper
Grindr was launched in 2009 by US-based tech entrepreneur Joel Simkhai. He sold a majority share in the company to Chinese Gaming Company Beijing Kunlun Tech in 2016 (followed by the remaining shares in 2018).
Last year, the US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), following concerns over the data of US citizens being in the hands of a Chinese company, informed Kunlun Tech that it had to sell the company back into US ownership. In March, Kunlun Tech announced it was selling it 98.5% shares in Grindr to US-based San Vicente Acquisition LLC for $608.5 million.
Chrisk
We also need to remove body and age filters. Plus the demand for face pics too. This is just bigotry and hate and needs to go.
erichinnw
Body, age and face pic requests are bigotry and hate? I agree they can be rude, but hate?
Den
Some people are specifically looking for older men, or heavy/very skinny men. Is that also bigotry and hate? People have a right to their preferences, even their racial preferences, as suspect as they are. And even if they cross the line into fetishism.
It’s sex. It isn’t denying people their basic human rights or economic equality. And it can be dealt with in ways that do not demean or insult.
just me
yup, take out all filters. also the ability to reject anyone for any reason. if they choose you, you have to go with them and that’s it!
QJ201
um, not on my Grindr. Was this a press release in advance of an update that will remove the filters?
jcarey
Maybe you have to opt in.
Heywood Jablowme
“dating app Grindr has announced it’s ditching its ‘ethnicity filter’ when it next updates.”
WHEN IT NEXT UPDATES. It’s right in the first sentence!
MenziesJ
Thanks but I’ll continue to filter out Grindr from my life,
Prax07
There’s still the Block button in the app. I use it instead of the filters anyway.
controversial2019
This becomes a slippery slope…how far does it go?
I pity people who are closed off to dating people of certain races or ethnicities; they could be missing out on dating THE best person they’ll ever meet. But I wouldn’t call them racist.
We do not choose what/who we are attracted to.
None of us woke up one day and decided “I’m going to be attracted to THIS gender or THAT gender or THOSE genders or NON-genders”. It wasn’t a choice. It just was.
None of us choose not to be attracted to bigger men, or slim men, or short, or tall, or brunette or blond. Our attractions are not choices.
If someone was not attracted to me because my body type wasn’t attractive to them (I’m a blob) then sure it sucks but I don’t have anything against them; it’s not their choice.
If someone was not attracted to me because my colour wasn’t attractive to them (I’m mixed white and black-Caribbean but am lighter than the “typical” mixed race guy in the uk) then sure it sucks but I don’t consider them racist; it’s not their choice.
Also, those that aren’t attracted to certain races – that can change.
At the risk of being attacked (as I have been elsewhere on here), up until my mid-20s (I’m now 31), I was pretty much exclusively attracted to white men. I didn’t choose it. And I knew I was missing out because I met many amazing guys from different racial backgrounds. But it was what it was. But then mid-20s, my tastes changed, I started liking “thicker” guys in addition to thin guys. I started liking those of different races (and now my fiancé gets annoyed how much I fawn over Hasan Minhaj).
So don’t call people racist or ageist or sizeist for having attractions (or non attractions) because 1. It’s not a choice 2. Tastes can change.
TMBisAOK
You totally dont even get what racism is then.?
gymmuscleboy
@TMBisAOK Maybe YOU don’t get what racism is
controversial2019
@TMBisAOK
Racism: Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.
Attraction (as I’ve said above) is not directed at people. For something to be directed at someone there has to be intent and will. Attraction is involuntary and thus not directed.
But you’ve not considered the rest of what I’ve said. Step back and read it.
Do you choose to be attracted to men? Fat? Thin? Old? Young?
Age is subject to the same discrimination laws (in the UK) as race and ethnicity. You can’t discriminate against someone because of their age. So if you are 22 and you don’t find 70 year old men attractive would you honestly say that you’re being ageist, and discriminative? Or is it just something that is out of your control?
gymmuscleboy
Let’s protest and burn down cities until they remove the age filter, too! IT’S DISCRIMINATION!
just me
or just burn your own phone… and all phones, for that matter.
sfhally
So the ‘wokerati’ have gotten another one.
Are they going to remove the sex interest as well, so that you won’t leave out women?
JessPH
A gay man not attracted to women doesn’t make him sexist. Similarly, a white person not attracted to POC doesn’t make him racist.