Our Commitment to Privacy, Trust & Safety at Grindr

When it comes to advocating for our users, there are few topics we are more passionate about than the interconnected issues of privacy and safety, which matter for many reasons, ranging from highly personal circumstances to government persecution in the more than 60 countries around the world, where it is tragically still illegal to be a member of the LGBTQ community. 

Since the founding of Grindr, many of our users have had very real needs to maintain privacy and discretion on the app. This is a key reason for certain important nuances of the app, like not requiring a profile photo. Privacy and safety components are also built directly into numerous product features, such as our private album feature that enables the private sharing of photos between users. As we build new features we will continue to integrate privacy into the design to safeguard user information. 

At the same time, we understand that safety is also a critical need for our community of users; therefore, we strive to eliminate illicit activity from the app. We are grateful to our users for actively reporting such activity, which helps keep our community safe. Over the last few years, we’ve made great strides in improving our product experience in this regard. Since January 2021, we have seen a 50%+ reduction in user reports of illegal or prohibited activity - even as our user base has grown. This has included an 86% reduction in spam reports from users and a 39% reduction in accounts banned for suspected solicitation. 

{{video-inline-cta}}

These reductions result from our work and commitment to innovation internally, in addition to the added strengths of our service providers, to ensure we are removing bad actors and addressing problematic accounts. As part of this work, we have: 

• Partnered with Spectrum Labs to proactively prevent sexual solicitation on the app by developing a machine learning model to detect solicitation in chat. This custom model has been very effective, and coupled with our built-in auto-blocking of certain keywords and emojis has helped cut down on prohibited activity on Grindr. In the future, we expect responsible AI and ML to play an even more critical role in proactively identifying and eliminating illegal activity in the app, while also respecting user privacy.

• Worked closely with Partner Hero in matters like content moderation and account banning, to ensure we can quickly remove accounts that are suspected of illicit activity. Grindr bans a significant number of accounts per month, which would not be possible without the external moderation team of over 150 experts. We expect to create and/or incorporate additional technology tools to help make this process even quicker and more seamless in the quarters to come. Given our belief in maintaining a lean operational organization internally, the success we’ve seen with Partner Hero gives us confidence that we can continue to expand the partnership and onboard other similar service providers as we continue to add new safeguards to our platform. 

We will continue to build on the work we’ve undertaken over the last three years to improve the safety of our app, while keeping privacy front and center. We will be tightening the integration between our internal product management and technology teams, and both internal and external customer support teams, to ensure users are getting the best possible service. With a combination of skilled security professionals and content moderators, plus the latest AI and machine learning technology, we can continue to mitigate spam and bad actors on the app while continuously innovating and building privacy controls our users care about.

Ultimately, our users’ needs and preferences drive the experience they have on Grindr, and we’re listening. They have told us loud and clear that privacy, trust, and safety are top priorities. And if it’s a priority for our users, it’s a priority for us, which is why we’re investing heavily in this space. This will always be a focal point on our journey towards becoming the global gayborhood in your pocket, and through our success create a world where our community is free, equal, and included.