PRESS RELEASE – Building Healthy Online Communities, a consortium of HIV and STD prevention organizations, has released a report with the results of its "NiceAF" campaign's research to combat online hate speech and racism. The report contains recommendations for apps and sites to take, based on input from ~5.5K users. BHOC worked with Adam4Adam, Daddyhunt, dudesnude, Grindr, GROWLr, Jack'd, Manhunt, SCRUFF, and POZ Personals to recruit its users to share their ideas. BHOC asked users to suggest and then rate a number of steps that apps should take to reduce discrimination and hate speech. The full report is available at NiceAF.org.
Category: Scruff
Apple’s New Policy Doesn’t Mean It’s Banning Grindr
THE GUARDIAN – June 15 – Apple's announcement last week that it was cracking down on some "hookup apps" sparked widespread confusion and concern that the company planned to remove dating apps – particularly Grindr and Scruff – from its app store. A spokesman from Apple said dating apps such as Grindr and Scruff would not be rejected based on the new guidelines. The guidelines ban "overtly sexual or pornographic material" including "'hookup' apps that may include pornography or be used to facilitate prostitution". The company defines this as "explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings". Apple did not name any apps that would be affected.
Apple Says Grindr, Scruff Not Targets of App Store Guideline Change
APPLE INSIDER – June 9 – Apple clarified that a recent change to its App Store guidelines is only targeting illicit apps that use dating as a cover and won't result in the ban of legitimate apps like Grindr or Scruff. Apple's Monday update to App Store Review Guidelines clarifies some existing policies and adds new requirements for apps. One of those changes, guideline 1.1.4, bans "hookup" apps that include pornography or are used to facilitate prostitution.
Queer Dating Apps Partner for NiceAF Campaign
PRESS RELEASE – June 3 – In the first ever cross-site collaboration of this kind, Building Healthy Online Communities (BHOC) and dating apps for gay and bisexual men (Adam4Adam, Daddyhunt, Grindr, POZ Personals, SCRUFF and Jack'd) have teamed up to make their online communities kinder for everyone with the NiceAF.org campaign. The team behind NiceAF.org has compiled a number of videos featuring men telling stories of how they keep the online experience NiceAF. Starting June 3rd, the collaborating apps will invite their users to vote for the video that does the best job of embodying NiceAF's mission of promoting nicer, kinder interactions between users.
LGBT+ People Warned off Casual Sex
REUTERS – Mar 28 – According to Sensor Tower, Grindr downloads fell 19% in Spain and 8% in Italy. Gay app Scruff saw a drop of 7% and 10% week-on-week for Spain and Italy. But although the dating apps were down in terms of new users, operators reported higher usage by those on the site. Lesbian app HER had seen "a pretty heavy spike in usage". Over the weekend of March 14-15, HER reported its highest day of the year for "likes" on posts, with the overall number of likes rising by 16% over the weekend.
by Hugo Greenhalgh
See full article at Reuters
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Grindr Issues Coronavirus Warning as Hook-ups Thrive During Pandemic
by Nick Duffy
See full article at Pink News
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Sexual Health Programs Are Using Gay Dating Apps to Get Users Tested for HIV
by Arno Pedram
See full article at NBC News
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Scruff CEO: Why LGBT+ Dating Apps Should Be Run by LGBT+ People
GCN – Dec 5 – Eric Silverberg, CEO of Scruff, shared why he believes it is important that gay dating apps be run by gay people. Scruff originally began in the gay bear community but has expanded to be used by a diverse cross section of the gay community. People use the app to find hookups, dates and to plan travel. Scruff prides itself as a friendly and safe space on the Internet. Scruff is actually one of only a small few gay dating apps which are owned and operated by gay people. "If you have leaders who are not a part of the community, you can't influence them via social and emotional appeals, only through economic appeals, Mr Silverber says. "The people at a company have to use their own product – there's a very fundamental principle in that."
Gay Dating App Hornet to Offer “Verified” Profile Badge
Google Play App Store Accused of Anti-gay Bias
BBC – Aug 16 – Gay dating app Hornet has accused Google of discrimination after its app was removed from Google's Play store several times without warning. Hornet said Google often employed moderators in Malaysia, where same-sex relationships are illegal, to vet apps. In January, gay dating app Scruff introduced stricter profile image guidelines, banning photos of men in underwear or swimwear. The app had also been suspended from Google Play several times prior to the change.