A New York man is not backing down in his fight to make Grindr pay for the unending harassment he suffered at the hands of his crazy ex-boyfriend.
For months, Matthew Herrick says his ex used Grindr to create fake profiles impersonating him. The profiles reportedly claimed Herrrick was big into BDSM, rough unprotected sex, and rape fantasies. It also claimed he’s HIV-positive when he is, in fact, not.
The ex then sent strange men, sometimes as many as a dozen per day, to Herrick’s home as well as to the restaurant where he worked.
Herrick took action against his ex, including filing 50 complains with Grindr, 14 police reports, and even obtaining a temporary restraining order, but the harassment didn’t stop.
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Related: Man sues Grindr over elaborate sexual harassment scheme orchestrated by his ex
In 2017, he filed a lawsuit against the tech company, saying it didn’t do enough to disable the impersonating profiles.
The lawsuit was thrown out by a federal district judge last year, who cited the Communications Decency Act of 1996, which protects tech companies for being held responsible for content posted by third parties.
But Herrick’s not giving up yet. He’s now arguing that Grindr violates product liability law.
NBC News reports:
Herrick is pursuing an unusual legal theory as he continues to push back against Grindr, arguing that tech companies should face greater accountability for what happens on their platforms. His lawsuit alleges that the software developers who write code for Grindr have been negligent, producing an app that’s defective in its design and that is “fundamentally unsafe” and “unreasonably dangerous” — echoing language that’s more typically used in lawsuits about, say, a faulty kitchen appliance or a defective car part.
“This is a case about a company abdicating responsibility for a dangerous product it released into the stream of commerce,” the lawsuit states. “Grindr’s inaction enables the weaponization of its products and services.”
Christopher Robinette is a law professor at Widener University. He explains, “Products liability started as people thinking, ‘Oh, my stove burnt me,’ or, ‘This saw cut my hand.’ But as people have started to purchase more information-related items, we have to reconsider how we classify those things.”
Whether or not Herrick’s new strategy will work remains to be seen, but this week a federal appeals court is scheduled to hear the case.
If Herrick is successful and he wins the case, it will set a new precedent that could have a huge implications on the tech industry as companies like YouTube, Facebook, and others could then be held responsible for not better regulating the spread of false information on their platforms.
“Grindr has created a defective product,” Carrie Goldberg, one of Herrick’s attorneys, says. “It was very foreseeable that their product could be used this way.”
Related: Grindr asks judge to toss case involving sexual harassment scheme and hundreds of horny gay men
mountainmaat
Sounds like a civil matter. Or it’s an elaborate scam and the ex is in on it.
MacAdvisor
The article indicates Herrick filed a lawsuit, that is a civil case.
iamru2
Is that him in the pic? Either way it’s an odd pic to use for a story like this.
spacecadet
Queerty often uses pics that aren’t accurate or representative of anyone involved in the actual stories in order to get clicks.
Brian
Yes, that’s him.
HMFan
If this kind of psychopathic behavior is any indication, it’s probably a good thing that Mr. Herrick dumped him. Yikes. As for his case and his attorney’s comment of “It was very foreseeable that their product could be used this way:” perhaps Grindr needs to indicate, rather prominently “Use of this product inconsistent with its labeling may cause unwanted social interaction, drama, high drama, injury, or death.” No one HAS to use Grindr; one voluntarily opts to use it. Grindr cannot guarantee that you won’t meet some crackpots out there. You do so at your own risk. As for Mr. Herrick’s harasser: he needs to get a life.
SFHarry
“high drama,” hee hee
Prax07
What exactly did He do to set the ex off like that? And yes, I’m victim blaming. He must’ve done something pretty bad to send the ex off on a sustained vendetta like that.
Toofie
Unless he killed someone, nobody deserves the level of harassment the victim received. Says a lot about you that you’re victim blaming.
1898
Seriously?
CarrieV
Hey. Lots of people accidentally date someone unstable. He no doubt found this out a bit too late, and now the unstable ex-bf is just lashing out like he may have done to countless others before Herrick.
Victim-blaming and “s/he was asking for it” need to go.
SFHarry
What about the weaponization of a vase. I can be thrown at someone.
I think the real problem was with the court system or police. If the harassed guy got a restraining order and the ex didn’t comply, then the ex should be in jail without access to a computer.
Goforit
I would like photos, location, NAME and any other info on the ex so that the rest of us are never subjected to his batshitcrazy behavior. And he never gets laid again.
1898
From my experience, Grindr is indeed a defective product. On multiple occasions I have blocked users, and then a few days later my block list was empty and those users were unblocked, and it was not my doing. This defect has very real safety implications if you’re trying to hide from an abusive ex or a stalker, for example. I’ve complained about it to Grindr tech support many times over a period of multiple years now and it still hasn’t been fixed.
Scout
Would Grindr be held liable under the new law congress passed last year that resulted in Craigslist removing its personal ad section? If so, all these hook-up apps would be affected.
ShowMeGuy
A restraining order is just a special way of saying **I love you**.
Prax07
Unstable people still usually need a trigger, and that guy Must’ve done a doozy to set someone off like that.