Grindr Goes ‘AI-First’ as It Strives to Be an ‘Everything App for the Gay Guy’

Grindr is not in the business of politics at all. I don’t comment on politics, which has been my policy since I have been here, so I’m not going to comment on that. Gay people have very different views, and it’s not something that I think should impact how I run a company. My job is to ensure that users have a fun and sexy place to enjoy their lives outside of politics. People come to Grindr not for politics but for other things. Unless it is fundamentally connected to our core business, we don’t make political comments.

But users do bring their politics to the platform. In July there was public outcry over blocking users who posted the phrase “No Zionists” in their profile.

We’ve commented on that already, but I am happy to have the team send you the release 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 tried—and failed—to take the company private over the course of the last few months. How are you feeling about that?

I can only say things that are public, but I’ll say a few things. One, it’s really critical to recognize that the three investors—Ray, James, and Michael Gearon—who bought this company from Chinese ownership in 2020 saved the company. There was no investment being done in product during the ownership period from 2017 through 2020. The team had been destroyed, and the technical debt that the company was accruing was incredibly heavy. Eventually it would negatively impact the product. So they did a great service in rescuing the company from Chinese ownership. They are investors, so they did it for financial reasons, obviously, but there was a big benefit that came out of it. And then they took the company public [in November 2022].