As the UK election comes to a close, queer dating app Grindr is facing accusations of political censorship.
Several users have taken to social media claiming they have been banned from the app for having ‘Vote Labour’ in their bio.
The dating app’s community guidelines make no explicit mention of politics, but does state there is a “zero-tolerance” policy for discrimination, harassment, and abusive behaviour.
just got banned from grindr for having “vote labour” as my profile name. tory conspiracy confirmed
— ben (@benvyle) December 10, 2019
Getting banned from Grindr because your profile said to vote Labour? That’s praxis. pic.twitter.com/32lC5z6d52
— Alex (@StoffelAlex) November 12, 2019
I put ‘Vote Labour 🌹’ in my Grindr name and they’ve banned me 😭😭 so if non-Tories could please send nudes via DM since I’m now denied the privilege of the ugly unsolicited ones I get sent on that app I’d be most appreciative.
— blake (@blake2108) December 12, 2019
Grindr has since responded to the claims, telling indy100: “users are free to express their views and opinions in their individual profiles as long as they do not violate our terms of service or Community Guidelines”.
It does seem unlikely Grindr would actively seek to ban users based on their political preference however, with the app having recently launched a ‘Grindr For Equality’ campaign, encouraging UK citizens to vote.
The app also took somewhat of a political stance in Australia during the lead up to this year’s Federal Election.
Grindr ran ads for the Australian Labor Party reminding users the Liberal candidate for Scullin in Victoria Gurpal Singh had once described same-sex marriage as “an issue of paedophilia”.
