The “Butting Beauty” and Woes of Grindr

Grindr recently has decided to allow more butt photos in their profiles. The platform stated on their blog that allowing their member base to have more control over their profiles is important. “Butt,” there is s limit, according to their website:

“When creating our rules and guidelines, we concentrated first on ways to remove bias and discrimination from the moderation process as much as possible,” Grindr said in its blog post announcing the change. “We recognize that assessments of how sexual a photo is can be influenced by common gender biases: how much skin someone shows, how much body hair they are expected to have, how the fat on their body is distributed, etc.”

Giving people the freedom to choose how they want to showcase their goods is a great step for freedom of expression with good representation.

Grindr Woes

Grindr is a social site that helps LGBTQ people, usually gay men, find their match or find a hook-up. The site prides itself on the ability to give LGBTQ people a platform to be themselves with like-minded people. The social media giant has always been a platform for the LGBTQ community.

In 2019, the United States government was concerned with the ownership of the site by Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd, which is a Chinese gaming company. Grindr defended themselves, but recent evidence shows that the National Security concerns are possibly correct.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) in 2020 told Grindr to sell due to National Security concerns, and Grindr is still looking for backers to buy the company according to The Verge.

In January 2021, Grindr was fined 11.7 million dollars for illegally sharing private information with advertisers.

Rebranding and Rebuilding

Grindr rebuilding will take time, and as they face a buyout, it will be interesting to see how the social media site rebrands itself. The site and the company face an uphill battle to ensure that their users are safe and protected.