Head of Grindr’s global governmental affairs Joe Hack wrote a blog post saying that the App Store Accountability Act had Grindr’s full support.
In a move to get a better handle on online safety one of the many bills for consideration was the App Store Accountability Act. This bill was first proposed in the House of Representatives by John James, Michigan Rep., and then Sen. Mike Lee of Utah in the Senate. The proposed bill would require age-verification at the app-store level rather than for the individual app.
Providers such as Google and Apple would verify an individual’s “age category” using personal data like an email address or social security number. If the user is a minor, they would then need parental consent before app downloads or making in-app purchases.
Joe Hack says in the post, “Grindr is only for adults aged 18 and over. Keeping minors off our platform is a top priority. We invest significant resources including age gate, device-level bans, human moderation, proprietary AI tools, and partnerships with child-safety organizations to prevent and remove underage users.”
He continues, saying, “We support Rep. John James’s App Store Accountability Act because it strengthens this work. The bill creates a single, secure age-verification process at the app-store level and allows developers to receive a verified age signal. This approach, supported by nearly 90% of parents, is safer and more consistent than requiring users to verify their age separately across many apps. By contrast, the U.K. and EU are moving toward fragmented rules that force adults to share sensitive personal information with thousands of apps. Creating unnecessary privacy and safety risks.”
He ends the post with, “We appreciate Representative John James and Senator Mike Lee’s leadership and urge Congress to advance this critical legislation.”
To some this is an amazing thing for the safety of the children. To others it begs the question, does this go against free speech by censoring LGBTQ+ online content? Personally, when children are involved any chance to let them keep their innocence and be safe online, it’s a win in my book.
