Twitter Users Start #ShutdownSmoochr In Reaction To Black Dating Site’s Discriminatory Filters

Twitter users have called for a black dating site to be shut down for promoting colourism and discrimination.
Smoochr is a new US-based dating service that seeks to help connect black singles “by complexion, hair style, moral views and more”.
And a campaign to shut down the site using the hashtag #ShutdownSmoochr has been started after people got wind of the dating site’s matching and filtering system.
When users log into the site, they are first asked to fill in some personal information, as with most other dating sites, however Smoochr asks for details that have been criticised for promoting discrimination.
Smoochr asks singles to input details about their skin colour, hair type, lip shape and body type.
For complexion, users are asked to choose between options like “mocha”, “caramel”, “vanilla, “pecan”, “almond”, “chocolate” and “latte”.
In the section about lip type, Smoochr has a drop down menu that includes “thin”, “full”, “soup coolers”, or “duck lips”.

And after seeing the way the site was filtering singles, Elen Awalom, a tech developer & activist from Washington D.C., decided to start the Twitter campaign #ShutdownSmoochr.
And the campaign has now been joined by hordes of social media users, who have voiced their concerns about the online dating site.
Smoochr app is a virtual paper bag test. It promotes discrimination,colorism & homophobia. #misogynoir #shutdownsmoochr
– jamiaw (@jamiaw) July 25, 2016
The whole premise of #smoochr is to search for people based on all the things as a woman of color you dont want to be judged by.
– wnsday addams (@missodessa) July 25, 2016
Dismayed to see an app that promotes colorism and somehw makes dating even more superficial than other apps have managed to #shutdownsmoochr
– Daniel Adeyanju (@NYCDan_) July 25, 2016
I thought Smoochr was fake, but the colorism and texture discrimination is VERY real. See for yourself. #ShutdownSmoochr
– Beamer (@BeamerDoesMedia) July 25, 2016
In addition to its controversial filtering system, Smoochr has also been charged with being homophobic, for not offering an LGBTQ service – instead only asking singles if they are a “woman seeking a man” or a “man seeking a woman.”
So far, it has not been made public who created the dating site, and attempts to contact the site’s founders have been unsuccessful.
See some more tweets about #ShutdownSmoochr here.