Grindr has asked a federal judge to throw out a recent case brought against the online dating service.
A New York-based actor sued Grindr claiming he was harassed and threatened after a fake profile was posted on the gay dating app.
Matthew Herrick’s claims said that an ex-boyfriend created a fake profile for him on Grindr that disclosed his home address and place of work, resulting in over 1,000 men turning up to meet him expecting sex.
And the New York man argued that Grindr should have warned users about the risks of harassment when using the app.
However a Manhattan federal court judge will now decide whether the lawsuit can proceed, after Grindr asked the judge to throw out the claims.
Grindr says it is protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which provides immunity from liability to online services if content is produced by other people.
The dating company said it can’t be blamed because Herrick got “mixed up with a tech savvy, judgment-proof individual,” and says Herrick should be suing his ex-boyfriend instead.
Grindr said Herrick’s lawyers “cannot identify any cases in which a court found that a website owed a duty to protect a plaintiff from third-party content. This is unsurprising, given Congress’ explicit instruction in the CDA that no such duty exists.”
Herrick’s Attorney Carrie Goldberg said the suit is designed to make apps like Grindr control their products, saying: “The day has come for tech companies to wake up and smell their liability. They don’t deserve immunity from lawsuits any more than the auto or tobacco industries do.”
Read more about the case here.