Grindr goes ‘AI first’ as it strives to be ‘everything gay app’

Grindr is not in the business of politics at all. I don’t comment on politics, and it’s been my policy since I’ve been here, so I won’t comment on that. Gays have very different views, and it’s not something I think should affect how I run the company. My job is to ensure that users have a fun and exciting place to enjoy their lives outside of politics. People come to Grindr not for politics but for other things. Unless it is primarily related to our core business, we do not make political comments.

But users bring their politics to the platform. In July, public protests erupted over the ban of users who posted the phrase “No to Zionists” on their profiles.

We’ve commented on that already, but I’d be happy for the team to send you a statement about that. [According to the statement, “discriminatory language, hate speech, abusive statements, and exclusionary ‘no’ statements—including those targeting race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender identity, or other protected characteristics—don’t belong on Grindr. Instead, we encourage people on Grindr to express their desires in a positive way by stating what they are looking for.”]

Controlling stakeholders have tried – and failed – to take the company private over the past few months. How do you feel about that?

I can only say general things, but I will say a few things. First, it’s really important to realize that the three investors – Ray, James, and Michael Geron – who bought this company from Chinese ownership in 2020, bailed out the company. There was no investment in the product during the ownership period from 2017 through 2020. The team was devastated, and the technical debt the company had accumulated was incredibly heavy. Ultimately this will negatively affect the product. So they did a great service in rescuing the company from Chinese ownership. They are investors, and obviously they did it for financial reasons, but there was a huge benefit that came out of it. And then they took the company public [in November 2022].