Dating app Grindr blocks athletes’ geolocation in Olympic Village

The LGBTQIA+ dating app thus intends to protect the privacy of certain users, particularly athletes from countries where homosexuality remains criminalized.

On social media, many Internet users were surprised: the profiles of Grindr users geolocated in the Olympic Village do not appear on the LGBTQIA+ dating app. The “Explore” feature has been disabled for the duration of the Paris 2024 Games.

In a statement released on July 24, Grindr said it wanted to avoid exposing athletes to risks. The app remains inactive, but without the geolocation function.

A protective measure after several incidents that occurred during previous Olympic Games. In 2021, during the Tokyo Games in Japan, several athletes were “Where are you” – that is, their sexual orientation had been made public without their consent.

In 2016, in Rio, Brazil, an American journalist from the website The Daily Beast had downloaded the app and located himself near the Olympic Village. In an article, he revealed information about the athletes he had encountered on the app, allowing them to be identified. Athletes who had not publicly announced their sexual orientation and some of whom were from countries that condemn homosexuality. A scandal that forced the media director to apologize.

This is not the first time that the Grindr app has decided to restrict this feature. In 2022, during the Beijing Winter Olympics, location was already disabled in the Olympic Village. The director of Grindr for Equality said at the time: “We want Grindr to be a space where queer athletes, no matter where they are from, feel safe connecting with one another while they’re in the Olympic Village.”

The application then displayed a message to users: “Your privacy is important to us. Our ‘explore’ feature has been disabled in the Olympic Village so that people near you cannot navigate here.” This year, prevention messages aimed at users are also being broadcast and profile checks are being reinforced.

In 62 UN member countries, homosexuality is still criminalized in 2024. In May 2023, Uganda enacted one of the most repressive laws in the world: being homosexual is a capital offense. The same is true in a dozen other countries, including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Somalia and Yemen.