Grindr officials announced on Monday that they have "decided to turn off the 'ethnicity' filter in the next update" to the gay dating app. This measure is being put in place in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and the anti-racist protests and against police violence that have multiplied since the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis (United States).
We will not be silent. Black Lives Matter. https://t.co/K671PrwJc0 pic.twitter.com/93ninYt2u9
- Grindr (@Grindr) June 1, 2020“We will not remain silent. Black Lives Matter ”, can be read on the portal's Twitter account. The post is accompanied by a longer message on a black background highlighting support for "the hundreds of thousands of colored 'queers' who connect to our app every day". The company also announces a donation to anti-racism associations in the United States. “We will not remain inactive (…). We will continue to fight racism on Grindr ”, it is still written.
A criticized filter
The message evokes the importance of "dialogue with the community" as well as "a policy of zero tolerance in matters of racism and hate speech on our platform". The filter that will disappear allowed users who wanted to hide people of certain ethnic origins. Criticized for many years, it was still available on the application.
"Although I think that the filter" ethnicity "promotes racism on the app, other minorities use it because they want to be able to quickly find members of their own community", had estimated in 2018 Landen Zumwalt, then director of Grindr's communication. The Verge site notes however that even without the filter, the functioning of the portal is based on algorithms taking into account the preferences demonstrated by a user in his choices.
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