Grindr Introduces 'Play Safe' Educational Videos
A series of safety videos is coming to popular hookup app Grindr in an effort to spotlight a slate of safety features, Business Wire reports.
The series, titled "Play Safe," will "educate users and the broader public about Grindr's safety policies and practices," the article detailed. "These videos will be shared both in-app to users as well as across Grindr's social channels."
The team of moderators at the app "has made significant investments in user safety on the platform over the past few years," the article added, "and wanted to raise awareness of the app's many safety features and share their work with users and with people around the world."
Safety features "included in the first installment" are set to include "[t]he ability to mute, block, and report bad actors on the app in order to have a safer, better experience," the article specified, going on to list other features such as functionalities "that allow users to verify each other before meeting up to avoid catfishing, such as audio chatting and video chatting" and "frequent internal audits to ensure that moderation decisions are as fair and accurate as possible."
"The behind-the-scenes work of Grindr's amazing Customer Experience team deserves to be recognized," the company's Director of Marketing, Alex Black, said. "We partnered with Kandy Muse to get the word out about some of Grindr's most useful safety features and to make the topic of safety more approachable and engaging for our users."
The new series comes in the wake of reports over the years of criminals using the app to lure men and victimize them. One perpetrator, Chance Seneca of Louisiana, recently pled guilty to a knife attack that left an 18-year-old man severely wounded. According to law enforcement, Seneca had intended to dismember the victim.
A Los Angeles man named Derrick Patterson was arrested last spring in connection with more than 20 robberies committed over a two-year span. Patterson met his victims on the app and reportedly used guns, knives, and a Taser in the commission of his crimes. He allegedly struck one man on the back of the head and slashed another across the chest with a knife.
Reports last spring said that Grindr had sold the location data of its users for years — a practice that could put users in danger if they live in countries with laws hostile to LGBTQ+ people.
The company seemed to acknowledge such reports, with VP of Customer Experience Alice Hunsberger saying of the new "Play Safe" video series, "We work day-in and day-out to make Grindr a place where our users can feel safe and supported, because we know that the world at large is not always accepting of the LGBTQ community."