Grindr disables location features in Olympic Village to protect LGBTQ+ athletes

Grindr has disabled certain features of the app inside the Paris 2024 Olympic Village out of concern for the safety of LGBTQ+ athletes.

The popular dating app, designed specifically for queer people, confirmed on July 25 that it has disabled location-based features at the Olympic Village. The announcement came after many Grindr users noticed they were unable to use the “Explore” feature, which allows people to change their location and view profiles, while at the Olympic Village in Paris, France.

In a blog post shared on Thursday titled “Grindr and Enhanced Privacy for Athletes at the Paris Olympics,” the app explained that the decision to disable location services was made in an effort to protect queer Olympians from being potentially outed by people using Grindr.

“If an athlete is not out or comes from a country where being LGBTQ+ is dangerous or illegal, using Grindr may put them at risk of being discovered by curious people who might try to identify and out them on the app,” the company said.

“Being an LGBTQ+ athlete comes with its own challenges, especially for those who come from places that lack basic rights and protections for our community,” Grindr said. “That’s why we’re taking the extra step of sending out targeted safety resources and information, including weekly messages reminding users that they may face dangers while using the app in the Olympic Village and sharing links to our multilingual safety resources.”

In addition to disabling the app’s “Explore” and “Roam” features at the Olympic Village, Grindr said the app’s “show distance” feature will also be disabled by default, though users can share their approximate distance if they choose to enable it.

Grindr users in the Olympic Village will also be able to send unlimited disappearing messages and unsend messages once they've been sent. People can turn off screenshots for private profile pictures and videos, as well as access the “Report a recent chat” feature in Settings to report any concerns within 24 hours.

“Our goal is to help athletes connect without worrying about inadvertently revealing their whereabouts or being recognized,” Grindr said. “To the pioneering LGBTQ+ athletes heading to Paris, we can’t wait to see you shine.”

Grindr, which launched in 2009, similarly disabled location features at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. The security measures came after US news site The Daily Beast used the LGBTQ+ dating app to arrange dates with athletes at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The article, which was later removed from the website, included details about people who could have identified them, such as their height, weight, nationality and a description of their profile picture.

Following widespread backlash, the Daily Beast removed the article and issued an apology. “The Daily Beast does not do this lightly,” the publication stated. “As shared in our editor’s note earlier today, we initially thought that swift removal of any identifying features and further clarification of our intent was the appropriate way to address this. Our initial reaction was that outright removal of the article was not necessary.”

“We were wrong,” the website’s editors added. “We are sorry and apologize to the athletes who may have been inadvertently affected by our story.”

LGBTQ+ athletes were once again taking risks at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. During the games, which were held in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, TikTok users had posted videos featuring the names and photos of Olympic athletes' Grindr profiles, Business Insider previously reported.

According to OutSports, there will be more than 150 LGBTQ+ athletes competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics. An estimated 25 countries will be represented by at least one openly LGBTQ+ athlete across 32 sports.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games begin on Friday, July 26 with an Opening Ceremony starting at 7:30 p.m. local time/1:30 p.m. EST.