Grindr accused of letting racist users get away with ‘zero consequences’ – even after they’ve been reported
Grindr. (Getty)
Racist Grindr users often face “zero consequences whatsoever” on the gay dating app, according to a researcher.
Gene Lim, who is currently completing a PhD at Monash University in Melbourne investigating sexual racism, told ABC that racism is rampant on the app – and that aggressors often don’t face any repercussions.
Lim, who is gay and Asian, said: “The first thing you start realising is that a lot of people don’t find Asians attractive, and it directly affects your self-esteem.
“There are a lot of times when people like myself, we just don’t feel like we should be there.
“Your white friends are hooking up left, right and centre. And you’re the only one in your friendship group who hasn’t had a date or even a hookup in months.”
Sexual racism researcher Gene Lim said racism often goes unpunished on Grindr.
Grindr bans racism and discrimination in its community guidelines, but Lim said that such behaviour often goes unpunished.
“I know of instances where after someone has been reported for racism or even other offences, they face zero consequences whatsoever,” he said.
“Grindr is not ever incentivised to crack down on these individuals. They only take immediate action against people trying to use their platform to advertise paid services.”
He praised the app’s “Kindr” campaign in 2018, which was created in an effort to tackle racism and bullying on Grindr.
That campaign “sparked some really good conversations, but then they just stopped it abruptly,” Lim said.
I know of instances where after someone has been reported for racism or even other offences, they face zero consequences whatsoever.
Lim’s comments come just months after Grindr finally dropped its much-reviled ethnicity filter in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
The app had been accused over the course of several years of racism for allowing Grindr XTRA users to filter potential hook-ups by their ethnicity.
In a statement released at the time, a spokesperson from the dating app said: “Racism has no place in our community. To help do our part, we have decided to remove the ethnicity filter from the Grindr app.
“Once the filter is removed, users will no longer be able to filter profiles by ethnicity.”
PinkNews has contacted Grindr for comment.
