Grindr has now confirmed that it will remove an ethnicity filter from its service and smartphone apps as part of a public show of solidarity with Black Lives Matter, and likely in reply to claims recently made against the company. This is just the latest service and brand to make clear its stance on an issue that has led to protests, rioting, and looting, following the death of George Floyd.
Grindr is one of the popular social networking and meet-up apps available to download on smartphones. Originally launched in 2019, the company now credits itself as being the “largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people.” However, in the past it has come under criticism, including for the use of an ethnicity filter.
Via a Twitter post today, Grindr issued a public statement confirming its solidarity with Black Lives Matter. As part of the same statement, the company went on to explain that after listening to user feedback it will be removing the ethnicity filter from the app. Grindr did not specifically state when this will happen exactly, but did say the change is due to take effect when the next app update comes through. The Android app was actually updated today (June 1), although it remains to be seen if the feature was included, or whether it will roll out as part of the next scheduled update.
For those unfamiliar with the app, the ethnicity filter essentially allows users to limit results to certain ethnic backgrounds in the same way others might rule out people based on age, gender, or any other type of filter. While there could be positive reasons for using this tool, many considered it just another way to further segregate users. Which now appears to be the same decision Grindr has come to, following its recent announcement. It is also likely that this decision was made in light of a previous ‘Demand Justice’ Tweet the company sent out a couple of days before. Since deleted, many responded to the Tweet by accusing Grindr of hypocrisy and adding to the problem, through the use of the filter.
Although a positive change in the eyes of those who were calling for the filter to be removed, there are those who have responded to the most recent announcement with further criticisms. For example, asking why Grindr has taken this long to make the change to begin with, as well as pointing out the service still needs an option for users to be able to report racist behavior. Nevertheless, this will be seen as one less hurdle to overcome for all those Grindr users calling on the social networking service to make changes.
Source: Grindr/Twitter
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