LAW.COM – Jan 7 – Whether a website should face accountability for the actions of its users is getting new examination in a harassment suit against Grindr. Attorney Tor Ekeland described Grindr as "a targeting system" that tracked a harassment victim's geolocation despite him not having the app. But opposing counsel from Bryan Cave says even if Grindr "somehow magically tracked people," it would still get Section 230 immunity. Arguing Monday before a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, attorney Tor Ekeland asked to revive a suit in which his client alleges an ex-boyfriend created a fake Grindr account under the client's name, then used the profile to send app users to the client's house and workplace. The suit was previously tossed under immunity granted to online services for third-party created content via Section 230 of the Stored Communications Act (CDA). Ekeland said that alleged stalkers used competitors to Grindr to stalk his client, and that the competitors addressed his client's concerns right away. The lawsuit also argued that information that was used to allegedly harass the plaintiff – including "categories in its drop-down menus" portraying him "as interested in hardcore sex" – were created by Grindr and thus outside the scope of the CDA. Grindr's counsel, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner partner Daniel Waxman characterized the suit as a "straightforward CDA case."
Category: Grindr
Grindr Harassment Suit Could Change Accountability for Tech
NBC MIAMI – Jan 5 – Matthew Herrick claimed that for months an ex-boyfriend used Grindr to harass him. The harassment continued for months, even after Herrick obtained a temporary restraining order against Grindr that required the company to disable the impersonating profiles. He continues to push back against Grindr, arguing that tech companies should face greater accountability for what happens on their platforms. If successful, the lawsuit could bring a significant legal change.
Tinder and Bumble’s Recent Advertising Efforts
by Jonah Engel Bromwich
See full article at New York Times
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Grindr’s Director Of Communications Quit Over President’s Gay Marriage Comment
INSTINCT MAGAZINE – Dec 10 – Last week, Grindr was trending after its President and CTO Scott Chen posted to Facebook that he thinks "marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman." Now in reaction to that, Grindr's communications director Landen Rafe Zumwalt, who is openly gay, has quit his job. "As an out and proud gay man madly in love with a man I don't deserve, I refused to compromise my own values or professional integrity to defend a statement that goes against everything I am and everything I believe," Zumwalt wrote through medium.com. Scott Chen explained his Facebook post: "The reason I said marriage is a holy matrimony between a man and a woman is based on my own personal experience. I am a straight man married to a woman I love and I have two beautiful daughters I love from the marriage. This is how I feel about my marriage. Different people have their different feelings about their marriages. You can't deny my feelings about my marriage."
by Devin Randall
The full article was originally published at Instinct Magazine, but is no longer available.
Grindr, the First Big Dating App For Gays, Is Falling Out of Favor
WASHINGTON POST – Dec 7 – 2018 should have been a record year for Grindr, the leading gay dating app, which touts ~27M users. Instead, the app has received backlash for one blunder after another. Early this year, the Kunlun Group's buyout of Grindr raised alarm among intelligence experts that the Chinese government might be able to gain access to the Grindr profiles of American users. Then in the spring, Grindr faced scrutiny after reports indicated the app had a security issue that could expose users' precise locations and that the company had shared sensitive data on its users' HIV status with external software vendors. Last week, news broke that Scott Chen, the app's straight-identified president, may not fully support marriage equality. In the past several years, Grindr users have widely reported that spambots and spoofed accounts run rampant. Earlier this year, a massive study by the Center for Humane Technology found that Grindr is the No. 1 app that leaves users feeling unhappy. Among its major competitors, Grindr has the lowest score on the Apple App store: a lowly two stars.
Head of Grindr Sets the Record Straight on His Position on Same Sex Marriage
NYDAILY NEWS – Dec 4 – Grindr president Scott Chen wrote on his Facebook page, "Some think marriage is between a man and a woman. I think so, too, but it's a personal matter." He added, "Some people think the purpose of marriage is to have your own biological children. It's a personal matter, too." The L.A.-based LGBTQ friendly social media page Into quickly seized on Chen's comments, posting that "Into has learned that President of Grindr does not support same-sex marriage, according to deleted social post." Chen acknowledged the post, but claimed his intention was to argue against those who oppose same-sex marriage in Taiwan, where he was educated and served in the military.
by Brian Niemietz
See full article at NY Daily News
Scruff CEO: The Real Issue with Grindr Is Way Bigger Than Gay Marriage
OUT.COM – Dec 3 – President of Grindr, Scott Chen created a Facebook post where he defined marriage as a "holy matrimony between a man and a woman." Here is an interview with Scruff CEO Eric Silverberg.
Q: How you felt when the news surfaced about the President of Grindr's remarks on gay marriage?
A: It's very disappointing. As a private citizen, you certainly have your right to your private beliefs, but when a leader in the gay community says these things, they're disrespecting the decades-long work of marriage equality activists.
Q: What do you know about the owners of Grindr?
A: I know that today, Grindr is entirely owned by a Chinese company. I think what this whole incident shines a light on is just how important the identity and personal beliefs of the tech company leaders really are in 2018. That's why I'm proud that Scruff is a gay-owned business.
Q: Tell me more about how Scruff pursues a business model.
A: Some tech executives don't use the products that they're building. We here at Scruff absolutely do. That manifested in the decision we made this year to get rid of all programmatic advertising, and to forgo any kind of data integration with Facebook.
Q: Can you explain what programmatic advertising is?
A: Any time you see a banner ad in an app, your data — be it your location, your sexuality, or the app you're on — is shuttled out of the app and into something that resembles a stock exchange. In that instant, you have advertisers who are bidding on that impression. The issue now is that data doesn't just stop with the advertisers anymore.
Q: Do you believe the claims that Grindr won't allow advertisers to receive access to users' HIV statuses?
A: I think we should look at their history of decision-making. People have very good reason to be deeply skeptical.
Q: Why is Grindr so big?
A: They were simply first to market.
Q: What are your hopes for Scruff, especially in the wake of these revelations about Grindr's president?
A: My hopes for the gay community are that people become more aware of the apps that they use, and really hold their companies and their leaders to the standards that they always should've been held to.
by Phillip Picardi
See full article at Out.com
The President of Grindr Said He’s Against Gay Marriage
OUT – Nov 30 – Grindr's president and former CTO Scott Chen claimed marriage is a "holy matrimony between a man and a woman" in a deleted Facebook post, according to sources within Grindr. This isn't the first time Grindr's been in hot water with the LGBTQ+ community it serves: Earlier this year, reports surfaced that the app's parent company was selling data on users' HIV status to medical insurance companies. Long live queer media.
The Subtle Way Dating Apps Reinforce Our Racial Biases
Grindr And MOSAIC Release Middle East And North Africa GBTQ Survey Report
GLOBENEWSWIRE – Oct 19 – Grindr in partnership with the MENA Organization for Services, Advocacy, Integration & Capacity (MOSAIC), released the results of a new survey report "The Regional Livelihood of GBTQ Using Grindr," which captures the experiences of gay, bi, trans and queer (GBTQ) Grindr users living in the Middle East and North Africa. 71% reported that their parents and/or relatives do not know at all about their sexual orientation. 13% of respondents said their parents and/or relatives know about their SOGI; however, only 6% said their family is supportive. 64% of respondents said they either did not know or are unsure of what their legal rights are within their own local community. View the full report.