Bernie Sanders Supporters Banned From Tinder For Campaigning For Presidential Candidate

Two woman were recently banned from Tinder, for campaigning for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on the dating app.

The two women, from Iowa and New Jersey, were blocked by the Hollywood-based company because they were sending campaign messages to all the men they matched with.

Speaking to Reuters, one of the women, 23-year-old Robyn Gedrich, said she sent 60 messages to new matches every day, and had been doing so for two weeks.

Her message read: “Do you feel the bern? Please text WORK to 82623 for me. Thanks.”

If her matches did as instructed, they would get a prompt to receive updates about Sanders’ campaign, and information on how to sign up as a volunteer for the candidate.

Campaigners used Tinder Plus feature

The other campaigner that was banned from Tinder, a 22-year-old photographer called Hayley Lent, said she had also contacted between 50 to 100 people on the app, asking them to support Sanders.

Lent even told Reuters that she bought Tinder’s premium service, Tinder Plus, so she could change her location to New Hampshire to connect with potential voters in the swing state.

Speaking about her interaction with her matches, Lent told the news site: “I would ask them if they were going to vote in their upcoming primaries.

“If they said no or were on the fence, I would try to talk to them and persuade them to vote.”

And it seems that the supporters’ efforts for the Vermont senator were seen to be in breach of Tinder’s Terms of Use, which says users: “may not post, upload, display or otherwise make available Content that … involves the transmission of ‘junk mail,’ ‘chain letters,’ or unsolicited mass mailing or ‘spamming’ (or ‘spimming,’ ‘phishing,’ ‘trolling’ or similar activities).”

Speaking about the decision to ban the supporters, Tinder’s VP of global communications and branding, Rosette Pambakian, said:

“We whole-heartedly support people sharing their political views on Tinder, but we don’t allow spamming. So feel free to spread the Bern, just don’t spam.”