Lesbian dating app HER tells all transphobic users to delete their accounts

HER app

A lesbian dating app has told all transphobic users to delete it from their phones, after a pile-on resulted in the appā€™s Twitter account being temporarily suspended. 

HER, an inclusive dating app which has a user base of more than 10 million, was deplatformed on Twitter on Lesbian Visibility Day for hitting back at transphobes. 

Throughout the day, the appā€™s social media team had been responding to an onslaught of ā€œviolent messagesā€ from anti-trans activists, who took issue with the fact HER welcomes trans and non-binary lesbians. 

Anti-trans bigots reported the appā€™s Twitter account in droves and Twitter issued a temporary suspension. 

HERā€™s Twitter account has now been restored. 

The pile-on came after the app released a blog post in celebration of Lesbian Visibility Day, describing how it is ā€œreclaiming ā€˜lesbianā€™ā€ from ā€œthe clutches of TERFs and bigots whoā€™ve tried to hijack it to fuel their transphobia and hatredā€. 

After returning to social media, the app sent a push-notification to all its users telling transphobia to delete the app, adding: “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

https://twitter.com/LebkuchenFilm/status/1651294126308982787?s=20

Speaking with PinkNews, HER CEO Robyn Exton explained the app being an inclusive space is ā€œnothing newā€.

ā€œHER has always been a platform that is for trans women, for non-binary people and anyone who identifies as a woman,” she said. 

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ā€œSo it’s kind of absurd that we’re now getting this like vitriol coming back, saying that we’re a lesbian app that is now ā€˜promotingā€™ inclusion of trans women. It has always been since day one.ā€ 

The CEO said the team at HER are ā€œso sickā€ at the levels of ā€œaggression and violenceā€ so-called gender critical activists aim at the app and its users, when ā€œall trans women want to do on our app is meet someone to fall in love withā€. 

HER ‘doubling down’ on trans support

Despite the heightened attention on social media, Exton said HER is not slowing down in its support of its trans users and the wider community. 

ā€œWe’re certainly not slowing down. I’d say we’re probably doubling down,ā€ she told PinkNews. 

ā€œAs TERFs want to pick up and try and question our position, I think we’re using this time to make our position exceptionally clear.ā€ 

Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, the platform has seen a rise in hate speech. 

Earlier in April, the social media platform quietly dropped longstanding policy protecting transgender people from deadnaming and misgendering. 

The move to remove the policy was described by by LGBTQ+ nonprofit GLAAD as ā€œthe latest example of just how unsafe the company is for users and advertisers alikeā€.

Under the tech billionaireā€™s ownership of Twitter, the ā€˜groomerā€™ conspiracy theory ā€“ which pushes the idea that LGBTQ+ are inherently out to harm children ā€“ has also soared by 119 per cent

Research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate identified 1,714,504 tweets and retweets since the start of 2022 that mention the LGBTQ+ community via keywords such as ā€œLGBTā€, ā€œgayā€, ā€œhomosexualā€ or ā€œtransā€ alongside slurs including ā€œgroomerā€, ā€œpredatorā€ and ā€œpedophileā€.

Prior to Muskā€™s take over, there were around 3,000 tweets a day mentioning the ā€˜groomerā€™ conspiracy theory but this grew to more than 6,500 in the four months after Musk became owner.

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