In Case You Missed It: Grindr Removes Ethnicity Filter

The moment that many dating app users have championed finally happened June 1st when Grindr announced it would remove its divisive ethnicity filter. The move was in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and nationwide protests in response to George Floyd's murder at the hands of a white police officer. More specifically it went down after Grindr received backlash to their now-deleted tweet "Demand Justice. #blacklivesmatter,” with critics basically wanting the company to put its money where its mouth is by addressing the elephant in the room - the ethnicity filter.

We will not be silent. Black Lives Matter. https://t.co/K671PrwJc0 pic.twitter.com/93ninYt2u9

— Grindr (@Grindr) June 1, 2020

The ethnicity filter ended up being a double-edged sword for Grindr - one it wasn't willing to fall on. The company long-claimed that while the filter did "promote racist behavior," it also allowed minority users to find fellow minorities. Here's what the head of communications had to say in 2018 (Via The Guardian):

While I believe the ethnicity filter does promote racist behaviour in the app, other minority groups use the filter because they want to quickly find other members of their minority community.

Grindr went a step further and declared that their Pride-related content this year would be focused on lifting the black queer community:

We can still come together in the spirit of Pride, but Pride this year has an added responsibility, a shifted tone, and a new priority that will be reflected in our programming – support and solidarity for queer people of color and the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Grindr's ethnicity filter was always an upcharge, so many of you probably never encountered it in the first place. But if you have we'd love to hear your thoughts on the now-defunct feature in the comments.