At Grindr, we build our product based on feedback from our highly engaged community of more than 13 million users around the world. We also utilize the latest and best technologies in the market to build great product experiences. 

For a while now, we’ve known that AI has the potential to completely reimagine dating and relationships. That’s why for over a year we’ve been planning new AI features and functionality that our users will love. As we embark on this journey, we are being thoughtful and intentional around ideating, conducting user research, building, and most importantly, testing these products. Along with all of the positive potential from AI development, there are risks we must be aware of and work to mitigate. 

The goal of incorporating AI into Grindr is ultimately to help our users build deeper and more meaningful connections. To do this, we’re considering many different features, building out our team and expertise in-house, while also exploring partnerships with specialty AI providers in some cases.

We are formalizing our ethical guidelines and an oversight structure to monitor AI performance and interactions, and carefully designing our approach to testing these new features. For new AI features, we are starting with a strict, internal-only period of testing before gradually rolling out  controlled tests with small groups of opt-in users.

The best way to test something is to test its full limits internally, in a lab-like setting. That is exactly what we are doing now in a controlled environment with our first AI features. This will allow us to identify potential issues before these features ever get into users’ hands. And once the products begin user testing, our team continues to monitor and track key learnings to help us improve the product as needed.

Our ability to build and introduce new products over the past year has greatly improved as we’ve implemented new operating principles and greatly improved our team’s ability to deliver impactful products and business results. We’re proud that we’ve continued to stay on schedule with our product roadmap, and recently completed major, multi-quarter projects like an overhaul of our chat feature. Since December 1, we’ve hired 25+ new engineers, including on our AI team, and are excited about the top-tier talent we’re adding.

As our work in the AI space progresses and we continue to test and learn, we’re looking forward to starting to thoughtfully roll out these new features to our users. We believe AI will play a key role in the future of dating and relationships and will be valuable to our users as we work toward a world where the lives of the global LGBTQ+ community are free, equal, and just.

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Assumptions get us into trouble, especially regarding love and desire. Our preconceived notions about gender and sexuality can lead to misunderstandings and hurt, even with the best intentions. Two voices are here to help us see things differently.

First, there's Madison Werner, a trans woman and advocate who understands the unique landscape trans women face when dating—both on and off the apps. Madison's advice includes the subtle ways internalized homophobia and transphobia can rear their ugly heads and sheds light on how to better create spaces for understanding.

Then, there's Seven Graham: transmasculine, a therapist, and a comedian who helps challenge the stereotypes some might have about sex & dating on apps like Grindr. For him, it's about unlocking desire and embracing the hard-won authenticity that came with overcoming addiction and discovering his intersex identity. 

Together, Madison and Seven offer tips based on first-hand experience that provide a kind of roadmap for others who might be navigating the complicated world of dating as a trans person. Read on for their unfiltered takes on love, desire, and all the messy, beautiful things that can come with trans dating.

Madison's Insights

Sexual Orientation and Responsibility

Not entirely sure about your sexual orientation or how you identify? Don’t make that her responsibility. Due to societal pressures and expectations, when cisgender straight men are attracted to trans women, they often worry whether they’re gay or if their guy friends will emasculate them. The pressure to conform can lead him to keep his trans girlfriend a secret, avoid commitment, and unfairly blame her for his own insecurities. It’s where homophobia and transphobia intersect: fear of being gay and fear of attraction toward trans people. Trans women experience enough difficulty every day; having confidence in your sexuality takes the pressure off of her journey toward love.

Physical Safety

Be mindful of her physical safety in the spaces you bring her into. Your friends, family, or coworkers may be gay-friendly, but being trans-friendly requires a different level of understanding. Trans women are often hyper-aware of new surroundings due to safety concerns. If you want to be her partner, developing this awareness is helpful, too. Have the necessary, private conversations with people in your life before she meets them.

Respect and Understanding

While it’s important you’re aware of her trans identity, don’t immediately ask questions about her gender transition. Talk to her like any other girl you’re attracted to: one step at a time and with respect. Gender transitions are as personal as it gets, so let a trans girl tell you about it when she’s ready to or when your relationship emotionally deepens. There are many things to know about her personality, not just her transness. If you're seeking knowledge about gender transitions in general, a quick Google search will do the trick.

Communication in Intimacy

Some transfeminine people experience gender dysphoria (a mismatch between their gender identity and their body), which can impact their sexual experiences. Let your trans partner communicate about it if she feels the need to. Just like cis people have turn-ons and turn-offs during sex, trans people may have them about their trans bodies. Hold space for it.

Celebrating Transness

Make it clear, via affirmations and actions, that her transness is not a burden; it’s worth celebrating and just makes her even more beautiful. Her identity is a reflection of her authenticity and closeness with herself—qualities that should be cherished in any person regardless of gender identity.

Seven’s Insights

Communication is Key

Since starting my transmasculine journey with testosterone shots in 2018, my libido has been freed from the fear and shame that used to hold it back. Now, Grindr is my go-to app when I'm feeling horny and looking for some fun with like-minded people (although I’m still looking for a “Classy Orgy”). Discuss feelings, concerns, and expectations openly. Good communication helps build a safe, strong foundation. I say it like it is: Deal or no Deal!

Educate Yourself

It’s not trans and intersex peoples’ job to educate you. Learn about trans and intersex issues, terminology, and experiences to understand your potential partner's perspective better. Accept that some trans people don’t want to play with cis people, even if you are gorgeous and God’s Gift—T4T means trans for trans. Furthermore, trans people come in many genders. “Trans” just means a person whose gender does not correspond with the sex registered at birth. 

Respect and Learn About Trans Peoples’ Experiences

To overcome my addictions in rehab in 2001, I learned that I had to get really honest about who I am to overcome the huge shame that drove my alcohol and drug use. In my teens and 20s, I couldn’t flirt or have sex without being super high.

Most LGBTQIA+ folks have some degree of shame from growing up “different,” but I was born intersex: biologically a mix of both the two common sexes. I’d been AFAB (assigned female at birth) because I had a vagina (I still do—I call it manpussy, or front hole, now), but I never felt female. Unbeknownst to me or my parents, I have XY chromosomes and was born with internal testes (stolen from me by doctors to fit me in the female binary box).

My experience makes me uniquely me, giving me a lifetime of stories that at least make for good stand-up material. But along the way, I've realized that my struggles are just one tiny piece of a much bigger picture. That's why it's important to listen to and respect the experiences of the trans community.

Photos

Just because you are comfortable sending intimate photos doesn’t mean everyone else is. For example, as an intersex person, I never send my genitals in a picture because they would be sold to a porn site. 

In 2018, I decided to ditch the estrogen my doctors put me on at age 12 and try testosterone shots (t-shots). I soon grew facial hair, and my “large clitoris” became a dick. It’s still growing “like Jack’s fucking beanstalk.” So now I have something for everyone. But to see them is real-world only. We intersex didn’t have a choice over who saw us as kids, and it’s an important boundary to respect—my genitals are my genitals, not for those on the grid. And that’s my choice. Your dick may be a handsome specimen, but that doesn’t make it front-page news—or appropriate to send without consent.

Be Patient

Understand that the process of self-discovery, acceptance and trust can take time. If you are FWB or getting into a relationship with a trans partner, be patient and supportive throughout their journey. Meet them where they are at, and if you’re lucky, they’ll meet you right where you’re at, too.

About the Authors

Madison hails from Calabasas, CA and came out as transgender in November 2015. She's now a trans rights advocate, writer and self-proclaimed "trans glam girl." She uses her social media to cultivate a safe place for queers and allies to learn about the trans experience. You can follow her on Instagram here.

‍Seven Graham is an LA-based UK-qualified addictions therapist & creativity coach who helps Hollywood tell intersex and trans stories. You can find everything you want to know about Seven here.

“I've been obsessed with Lexapro," LA-based singer-songwriter JORDY confesses with a cheeky grin, sidestepping the expected glitz of pop star polish. That’s because JORDY's beat is relentlessly catchy sugar-spun pop songs, not the blasé honesty that reveals the messy reality beneath your typical boilerplate poptimism.

Cue the shock of JORDY’s new single, "SECOND MINUTE HOUR," a shamelessly horny, queer powerhouse anthem that feels like it flirts with you, buys you a drink, and leaves its number on your phone—all in the span of two minutes and fifty-four seconds.

When I sat down with JORDY to talk about it all, I was a little thrown. You wouldn’t think the single carries the scars of a hard year, but it does. 2023 wasn’t kind to him. The grind wore him thin. But following an unexpected split from his label in August, an event that might have derailed many artists, Jordy found a path forward.

That determination manifests in “SECOND MINUTE HOUR.” It bursts open with a pulsing rhythm and lyrics detailing a ferocious one-night fuck. JORDY's traded lovelorn serenades for bedroom bravado, practically winking through the speakers— it’s unashamed, explicit, and at odds with the sweet tunes that put him on the map. There’s galloping bass lines, throbbing synths, and thumping 808s—the sounds de jour of a club banger turgid with raw energy—this is body music in the literal sense.

Lines like "Got me rolling back my eyes like it's a superpower / You can have me if you wanna stay another second minute hour" leave little room for interpretation. No subtle innuendos here. This is about making every second count, leaving you breathless—and maybe just a little sore.

The following is an interview with JORDY, where he sat down with Grindr to discuss "SECOND MINUTE HOUR.” This interview has been edited for clarity.

“SECOND MINUTE HOUR” has been a pretty big change for you compared to the rest of your discography. How did releasing something so—for lack of a better word—horny come to be?

My music has grown as I have, and I feel like in the past year, all my music has been completely honest and authentic. And, of course, like on these past two records, I have definitely toyed with hookup culture and had definitely written about that stuff, but when I went into the studio, I was kind of like, “I want to make like a sexy bop.” I want this to specifically be this new age, new era, sex positive anthem that feels real to me. And yeah, we were listening to some stuff and we just started producing it out. And that's how the song was born. It came out of a specific place of, “I want to be sexual, and I want it to be like a new vibe for me.”

Your label dropped you in 2023. This could wreck a lot of up-and-coming artists. How did you come to write something so liberating despite that?

It's weird how things are always happening simultaneously. It feels like if you're going through something, there's a bunch of other shit happening to you behind that. When I was getting dropped, I just felt like I knew it was coming, and creatively I was like, fuck, I feel so uninspired. But when the papers were finally signed, I suddenly got this surge of inspo and creativity and like, was just writing so much. When I wrote “SECOND MINUTE HOUR”, it was kind of just about having fun with it and not taking it too seriously. And I love taking music fucking seriously. But to go in and kind of just be like, “I want to make something sexy, something fun” and just say weird shit, it’s so much less pressure. It made the process so much fun. So yeah, less pressure. More fun.

For self-promotion, some artists choose being an enigma over being an open book. The way you engage with fans feels really authentic. It’s less parasocial, more conversational. Why?

You know, I've never been this really mysterious person. I've been just really upfront and I don't really like to hide things. I think that worked to my advantage. I'm always gonna let people in and when there's new things to share, it makes it that much more exciting, you know? All these apps exist to share parts of ourselves. And yeah, I definitely lean into that for sure. I love creating those relationships. I feel that's why we do it.

Off of that, what’s the most unexpected following you’ve received while promoting “SECOND MINUTE HOUR”?

On TikTok, there was a shit ton of comments from the “BookTok” community, which was very random, but there was this viral comment that was like, “Is BookTok here yet or am I just early?” And there's just thousands of comments of girls being “BookTok girl here! Present!” And I guess it’s just like, “Oh, book girls who are into reading smut and horny romance books are also kind of into this.” I've never had the BookTok world before. I'm confused but also excited by that because it's a new market, a new niche. And I think it's just girls who like, are horny who love reading horny books.

I think everyone can attest to how much social media can dictate your good or bad you feel on a daily basis. If something doesn’t do well, it ruins your day. If something does, you’re on a high. But this is part of your job. How do you handle it?

I've been doing therapy twice a week and lately, I've been obsessed with Lexapro, like really vibing with Lexapro. My mood has been so much better. Yeah, the end of last year… I just was unwell, just because I think it was a little aftermath of getting dropped and shit but also, the end of the year is always hard for everyone. But it also reached a point where I was like, I need to take a step back. I think sometimes there's a lot of pressure to stay active because people will forget about you. And for me, I was like, I definitely feel that anxiety, but I need to take a step back, and I really didn't post much at all on social media for a couple of months. But also, what’s been happening with teasing “SECOND MINUTE HOUR” on social media has been really great, it really has been. So, it's really just about balance, I think. It's tough. It's everywhere. It's hard to avoid.

What does taking a step back look like for you?

I love cooking. I love making food and exploring places to eat in LA just because there’s so much good food—having friends who are down to drive for, like, hours to get dim sum somewhere like San Bernadino Valley. Also, I started reading again. I was an English major in college, so I’ve always loved it. Recently, I was like, let’s go to a bookstore and just like, look around. That’s one little thing I get to celebrate. I feel like I’m on my own time.

Watch the video for “SECOND MINUTE HOUR” below.

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In a landmark victory, Greece has granted full marriage rights to same-sex couples, becoming the 37th country worldwide to achieve marriage equality. This win highlights the power and momentum of the LGBTQ+ movement, even in the face of intense global backlash.

Greek activists have fought for many years, making incremental progress leading up to this moment. In 2015, the government granted LGBTQ couples the right to civil partnerships that covered many of the legal benefits of marriage. In 2017, the country updated the process for trans people to be legally recognized in their correct gender, regardless of surgical status. And the following year, the government began to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere in the EU. But today, the country has taken another enormous step forward towards full LGBTQ+ equality by delivering full marriage rights.

At Grindr for Equality, we understand the significance of these hard-won victories. We applaud Greece's achievement and hope their success can remind us all that we can create a world where the lives of our community are free, equal, and just.

Our ongoing efforts for marriage equality currently include support for the marriage movements in four countries – Japan, Thailand, India, and Czechia. In each of these countries and beyond, we are throwing our support behind local advocates both financially and by enabling them to harness the power of the Grindr app to educate and activate users for the cause. 

Launched in 2012, Grindr for Equality is a core Grindr initiative dedicated to accelerating a world where LGBTQ+ people in every country are equal before the law, free to marry, and have their unique health needs met. Although over 160 countries continue to struggle in their movement toward marriage equality, today, we celebrate the Greek LGBTQ+ community and thank them for giving us such a decisive step toward the world we want to create.

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So you think you might be the asshole? Maybe. Let’s chat. Enter our latest brainchild, the podcast that's here to dissect your worst (or maybe best?) impulses: Who’s The Asshole?, hosted by none other than Katya Zamolodchikova. And yeah, we're going there—everywhere, and nothing’s off-limits. We’re into sugar daddies, not into sugar-coating—so we’ll be serving up  the truth, the hole truth, and nothing butt the truth.

Alright, So What’s it About?

Ever open the door to a Grindr hookup expecting Mr. Right Now only to find Mr. Way Back When looking nothing like his 10-year-old flip phone pics? Did you send him packing? Or just shut the door with a “thanks, but no throwbacks?” Or maybe you blocked someone after they sent you a dick pic and then questioned yourself. Was it not artful enough? Were you looking for a few more inches? Or maybe you just wanted more woah, less oh.

In any case, at some point, you’ve probably asked yourself, "Was I the asshole?" Well, guess what? You're not the only one. Quick hookups, quicker ghostings—it can all get a bit messy, and sometimes it’s easy to forget there’s a real person on the other side of the screen. But also, when red flags pop up… sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, even if it leaves you wondering: “Am I the asshole?’

Those moments of self-reflection? Those gray areas where you’re not sure who shat the etiquette bed? That’s what we’re exploring with Who’s the Asshole? We dive deep—yes, that deep—into the messiest, juiciest stories of sex & dating we could get our grubby paws on. The conversations we’re having are raw, unfiltered, uncut, and everything in between—all in the spirit of better understanding each other without judgment. With a guest lineup of some of our favorite LGBTQ+ icons, Who’s the Asshole? is the podcast your dirty little ears didn’t know they needed.

But on the pod, you’re not just the listener, you’re also part of the fun. We set up a Grindr Voicemail (it may or may not be (510) ASS-HOLE…) and asked our users to send in their un-hole-iest stories for Katya and our guests to have their way with. Each episode, we pick our favorite stories and unpack them with a mix of sass, class, and a little bit of ass, showing that no story is too scandalous to share. You dialed in so we could dish out, and for that, we salute you.

Here’s Our Hole Lineup

• Orville Peck, the masked marvel of country music, opens up about the high notes and low blows of airport breakups. Grab your tissues and cowboy boots, y’all—it’s a tearjerker with twang.
• Jordan Firstman, writer/actor, film producer, and prophet of penis positivity, is here to preach the good word: every shape, every size, gets a gold star. Get ready to celebrate dick diversity.
• Trace Lysette, actress and producer goddess, dives into the mystery of why straight guys can't resist the Grindr glow.
• Saucy Santana, one of rap's fiercest forces, dishes on his heaux tales and how he has navigated homophobia in hip-hop.

Why Katya?

Why Katya? Babe, who else has the guts to get into your guts?

He's equal parts therapist, confessor, and anal-yst on all things sex and dating, always ready to skirt the fine line between being assertive and just being, well, an asshole.

When Grindr threw out the idea of getting down, Katya was already there, toolkit in hand—think enemas, poppers, and an unshakable spirit. Fearless, fucking hilarious, and ready to get into it.

He's all of us—just way funnier, so he was the obvious choice.

This Isn't Just Another Podcast (Well, it is, but you get the point)

Who’s The Asshole? is basically your new bible on navigating gay mess. We’re heading fist-first into the kind of stories that make prudes clutch their pearls. We’ve all had those nights where we’re either the star or the asshole (sometimes both), and it’s rarely pretty—but always enlightening (no, we’re not talking about anal bleaching).

So come on in, our holes have been expecting you.

The first episode of ‘Grindr Presents: Who’s the Asshole?’ premieres on February 15, 2024, and can be viewed on YouTube and streamed wherever you get your podcasts.

Every year, we compile anonymous aggregated data from our global user base and survey our community on an array of pop culture topics and trends for our annual Grindr Unwrapped report. The result is a fun, flirty, and informal snapshot of what our users loved for themselves and for the culture in the past year.

2023 was a BIG year for Grindr users, and there’s  plenty to be unwrapped—with more than 100 billion chats, 13 billion taps, and 1 billion private albums sent, our community definitely got busy. In addition to anonymous activity data from our 13 million monthly users, we surveyed more than 10,000 users on their top pop culture moments of 2023—from the ultimate gay gasp to the biggest babygirl. The resulting report provides a deeper look into global activity trends and spills all the tea on the year’s pop culture highlights. 

Some notable 2023 stats include: 

• Most Active Day/Time: Sunday at 6pm
• Most Explored City: London, England
• Country with the Highest % of Tops: Trinidad & Tobago
• Highest Percentage Of Feet Lovers: Italy
• Gay Gasp and Best Drag Moment: Troye Sivan’s “One of Your Girls” video
• Top Album and Song Of The Year: Kylie Minogue’s Tension and “Padam Padam” respectively

The queer community has always had its finger on the pulse of pop culture, and it’s always so much fun to see our users’ hot takes on the year via Unwrapped. Curious about which countries have the highest percentage of hung tops, femme bottoms, feet lovers, and more? Check your Grindr inbox or head to https://www.unwrapped.grindr.com/ for the full report. 

And remember, Grindr Unwrapped is not meant as a comprehensive or scientific report on global queer sex & dating behaviors. The anonymous, aggregated data only represents a subsection of our users (not all Grindr users include this information on their profiles), and Grindr itself only represents a subsection of the global queer community. So enjoy the report, don’t take it too seriously, and have a happy new year from all of us at Grindr.

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One year ago this month, Grindr shares debuted on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). This was an incredible milestone for a company built by gay people for gay people, and I love how often people remind me about the party Grindr and NYSE threw in front of the exchange—one unlike anything the cradle of capitalism had ever seen before.  

In the year since being public, we’ve delivered continued growth in our monthly active users to 13.5M and stellar financial results, consistently generating higher than expected revenue. We’ve harnessed that growth to fuel the launches of significant app enhancements—an updated home screen, videos in albums, and new chat features (“lost all my chats” is no longer an excuse for not getting back to someone!) are just a few of the ways we improved the Grindr experience for our users. Concurrently, we started to work on features users have been wanting us to build for years, such as improvements in how they indicate their intent in the app, and Teleport, which allows users to show their profile in a city other than where they are at present. We expect these and other features to launch next year. 

We also expanded our impact in making the lives of our community safer and more just, by enabling individuals in the US, Ireland, and Georgia to protect their health by ordering free at-home HIV test kits directly through our app. Since the launch of this initiative in the US, a quarter of a million kits were distributed in the first six months, and a quarter of those went to people who had never tested before. Our vision is to provide this service to all our users around the world.

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This year, a big focus for Grindr’s executive team has been to help build a culture where our employees can continually learn and grow, and unleash their full potential. Our goal is for all our employees to strive to achieve audacious goals through operational excellence. As part of this effort, we’ve been adding some critical talent to our team, with fantastic leadership hires in product, engineering, marketing, finance, and legal. 

As we celebrate the progress we’ve achieved so far, we remain committed to our mission of building the global gayborhood in your pocket. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved this year, but I know there is still a lot to do. 

Looking ahead, we are focused on rolling out initiatives that make it easier and safer for our users to connect however they’d like. Artificial intelligence for recommendations and better matching and specific programs for our users are just a couple of the things we will be investing in as we continue on our path to become the super-app for our community. 

What a year it has been for Grindr. I am looking forward to what lies ahead as we work to make a world where the lives of our global community are free, equal, and just.

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Grindr for Equality is committed to using our app to promote LGBTQ+ safety, health, and human rights around the world. Part of that mission is to find ways to increase access to HIV testing. Embedding in-app links to self-test kits has emerged as the most powerful strategy by a considerable margin.

As our fight against the HIV epidemic continues, we are acutely aware that access to in-person testing only is not enough. Barriers to accessing in-person testing include limited clinic operating hours, transportation availability, prohibitive costs, and concerns about both privacy and stigma.

With this announcement, Grindr users in Georgia and Ireland will have new dedicated buttons in the app’s interface. One simple click will allow users to order free at-home HIV self-test kits, twenty-four hours a day. This easy process mirrors the convenience with which many people have been able to access and use COVID tests. 

Grindr has a long history of working with both Equality Movement and MPOWER to promote their existing HIV testing programs. Previously, the Grindr app displayed public service announcements making users aware of tests available from both organizations. Today, we are making tests more accessible than ever, allowing users across both countries to take advantage of free at-home tests at any time. Users can rest assured that their privacy is protected if they choose to participate in these programs, as Grindr collects no data through this process.\

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We are incredibly excited to help expand access to global HIV testing. Earlier this year, our partners at Building Healthy Online Communities and Emory University launched Together TakeMeHome (TTMH) with support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. We were proud to integrate TTMH directly into the Grindr interface, offering free at-home tests to anyone in the U.S. In its first six months, the program has distributed over 230,000 kits, the majority of which went to Grindr users. Nearly a quarter of those orders were placed by first time testers. This shows unequivocally that a significant population of Grindr users want to test, but have been unable to do so without this level of convenience and confidentiality. 

In addition to the launch of these partnerships, Grindr will continue its annual commitment to promote the European Test Finder (ETF). The ETF is a website that allows people in Europe to find the nearest place to access testing and treatment services for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, and STIs. Grindr for Equality will promote ETF across 26 countries with messaging in 24 languages over the course of the week.

For Grindr users in Georgia and Ireland who don’t already have a habitual way to test: we encourage you to take advantage of this new program. Please share the news with your friends, know your status, and join us in the fight against the HIV epidemic. We look forward to launching similar programs all over the world.

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The privacy and safety of our users is paramount to how we think about building services for the Grindr community. Much as we are a community-focused app, we know that it is through community that we will develop the most effective tools to combat any ill, whether it be injustice, intolerance, or bad actors. Once such ill is the threat of child online sexual exploitation and abuse, which is an issue we approach with the utmost seriousness. 

That is why we are so glad to announce today we are joining the WeProtect Global Alliance and The Tech Coalition. WeProtect drives collaboration between governments, the private sector, and civil society to protect all children from the growing threat of sexual exploitation and abuse online, while The Tech Coalition specifically fosters relationships among technology leaders to protect children from online sexual exploitation and abuse.

The Grindr app is for adults only and all users are required to enter their age before opening an account. Use of our app by anyone other than law-abiding adults is a violation of our terms of service, and we ban accounts for anyone who violates those terms. If someone underage attempts to sign up for Grindr, we direct them to the Trevor Project—a nonprofit organization designed to support LGBTQ youth. 

We have long worked to ensure a safer internet for children and to keep them off our app, but it is simply not something Grindr alone, or any one company or one institution alone, could ever accomplish effectively. We are so glad for the efforts of groups like WeProtect and The Tech Coalition who bring together stakeholders from across the ecosystem to make meaningful progress against the crucial goal of protecting our children.

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“"The Tech Coalition is pleased to welcome Grindr, joining our growing membership of 36 tech companies working to keep young people safe online. Together we will continue to drive forward our shared mission and develop critical advances in technology, research, and information-sharing amongst industry. Only by working together can we create a safer online world for kids." — Sean Litton, Executive Director, Tech Coalition.

“I am pleased to welcome Grindr as a new member of WeProtect Global Alliance. Their work within our Alliance will play an important role in building a digital world designed to protect children from sexual exploitation and abuse.” — Iain Drennan, Executive Director, WeProtect Global Alliance

While Grindr will continue to invest a great deal of time and effort into keeping underaged users off our platform and safe from online exploitation and abuse, what we know is that partnership is the key to developing broad solutions that respect privacy and enhance user safety and the security of all people online.

Grindr looks forward to working with WeProtect, The Tech Coalition, and others, to build an ever safer and more secure internet.

Learn more at: 

• https://www.weprotect.org/who-we-are/‍
• https://www.technologycoalition.org/

We at Grindr are celebrating the decision by the Japanese Supreme Court to make legal gender recognition for trans people a simpler and more humane process.

Japan long had a requirement that trans people undergo surgical sterilization before they could have access to government-issued identification documents that reflect their gender identity. The court accurately and powerfully characterized this as a “cruel choice between accepting the sterilization surgery that causes intense bodily invasion and giving up important legal benefits of being treated according to their gender identity.” 

Not only did this requirement stand as an arbitrary judgement about trans people’s ability to be parents, it is also widely considered to be a form of torture. In April of 2017, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that such a requirement was a serious infringement of human rights, and we are thankful the Japanese courts have now followed suit.

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Of course, there are many further steps to guarantee the full rights of trans and all LGBTQ people in the country. The Supreme Court did not rule, for example, on requirements that trans people undergo transition-related surgeries before the government will recognize their gender. This is a problem not only because many trans people are unable to access such surgeries, but also because many do not want them. The country also continues to require that trans people seeking legal gender recognition be unmarried and not have children under eighteen years old, all of which must eventually be reformed. Finally, Japan remains the only G7 country without marriage equality.

Still, this represents an enormous step forward for the LGBTQ legal environment in Japan, and for human rights broadly. This is only the twelfth time the Supreme Court has handed down a judgment that a law was unconstitutional since the establishment of the system in 1947. Personally, as someone who has been engaged with the Japanese queer movement for many years, I am filled with hope to see this development and am looking forward to more successes from Japanese activists in the coming years.

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. 

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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.

We at Grindr applaud the decision handed down by the Supreme Court last week that decriminalizes consensual sex between men in the country of Mauritius. We are grateful to the Mauritian activists and lawyers who have worked so hard to achieve this powerful victory.

The stakes of decriminalization are high, because authoritarian laws that reject our right to exist push gay people into the shadows, force us to live in fear, and prevent us from making full contributions to the world. This is true regardless of whether the government actively enforces laws that criminalize consensual sex between men and makes arrests, or not. 

The threat of turning our community members over to the police can keep us from achieving our full potential in life, even when that threat could be empty. It gives the people around us something they can use against us if we’re ever in serious competition with them or if we disagree. Merely having a law on the books that says we are illegal–simply because of who we are and who we love–sends the message to our young people that they are sick, their futures will not be bright, and they should not value their own lives.

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For these reasons, overturning laws that criminalize being LGBTQ in the sixty-five countries that make it illegal is a key priority for Grindr for Equality (G4E). 

This past summer, Grindr for Equality team members visited Mauritius to participate in the Pan-Africa ILGA conference. We had the opportunity to experience the country and get to know the Mauritian activists who have made this momentous change possible. The time we spent there only increases our excitement at the news and invigorates the congratulations we send to the entire country. 

We at Grindr will continue to support activists around the world in their efforts to achieve similarly positive outcomes, even in the places where it can feel impossible. Our community has shown itself to be powerful. We will make it happen, and we at Grindr are so proud to be one of many institutions pushing us in that direction.