Grindr has changed its privacy policy for LGBTQ+ athletes competing at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
According to a report from Bloomberg News, the app has disabled the “Explore” feature for users that reside in the Olympic village.
Even though the company already offers this privacy option in countries with anti-LGBTQ+ laws, this is the first time it has been used for the Olympic Games.
Under the new feature, people in the Olympian village can interact with other users by using the “nearby” feature or searching recently added profiles.
The special update was introduced after previous years of international users outing closeted Olympians on social media.
Director of Grindr for equality Jack Harrison-Quintana opened up about the privacy adjustment in a statement.
“We want Grindr to be a space where all queer athletes, regardless of where they’re from, feel confident connecting with one another while they’re in the Olympic Village,” he said.
This year’s Winter Olympics have seen double the amount of LGBTQ+ athletes compared to the 2018 games in PyeongChang.
Amongst the numerous competitors, there are at least 35 openly queer participants.
The app’s recent privacy adjustments come a couple of weeks after the platform vanished from app stores in China.
In January, the Cyberspace Administration of China announced that it would undertake a month-long campaign to remove” inappropriate content”, such as pornography.
Data from researchers at Qimai revealed that Grindr was no longer available by 27 January.
The unexplained removal has since sparked concerns that it had been targeted as part of the crackdown.
The popular LGBTQ+ dating resource was also removed from similar platforms – though similar apps like Blued are still available for download.
Before its removal, users in the region reported connectivity issues on Grindr – it remains unclear if it was linked to the app’s removal.
LGBTQ+ content in the country is frequently censored or banned, despite homosexuality being decriminalised in 1997.
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