The Washington Post Covers Grindr’s Difficult Year

The Washington Post has published an article documenting Grindr’s rollercoaster of a year.

The piece highlights the numerous controversies that the dating app has faced in 2018, which have driven many of its members to flock to rival platforms in search of a more user-friendly experience.

The most recent setback came when its President Scott Chen posted comments on Facebook that suggested he does not fully support gay marriage.

The Grindr-owned online magazine INTO published a strongly-worded article criticising Chen, for which it was reprimanded. Chief Content Officer Zach Stafford told The Washington Post that INTO will continue to impartially create content, even when covering the company itself.

It is often argued by critics that Grindr has become a hotbed for prejudicial language, with many users being racist, transphobic and fat-shaming.

As a response, the ‘Kindr’ video campaign was released which urged people to be more inclusive and threatened stricter sanctions for those who didn’t follow the new guidelines.

The campaign was not entirely well received by the community, however. One user expressed that “[Kindr] will never help ease a gay man’s concern for his safety”, and another described it as “too little, too late.”

Grindr had a promising start to the year when it was acquired by Kunlun Group, a Chinese gaming company, and talks of an impending IPO began to circulate.  

However, data security concerns arose among American users, who were worried their private information might be accessible to the Chinese government. Grindr strongly denied that that was going to happen.

In sum, the article acknowledged that Grindr changed the way the LGBTQ community dated when it was first launched in 2009, but suggested it could soon be overtaken by one of its younger competitors.

Read more here.