1,100 strangers show up to a person's house for sex

1,100 strangers showed up at his home for sex. He blames Grindr - Apr. 14, 2017

In the article, it seems that someone is using Grindr as a means of revenge. They are setting up fake accounts and are telling the people to not take no for an answer (as part of some fabricated Rape Fantasy fetish).

Grindr is using Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act as a way of protecting themselves from it. The question before the panel is...Does Grindr hold any responsibility for the harassment that is being done to him through their service? I know it's not Grindr that's doing it, but they are being used as the weapon of choice.

Thoughts?

Grindr can nip this in the bud by improving their "someone is mimicking my account" algorythim to include names, ip of person who mimicked, common pictures n such.

Everyone who uses grindr or anything else that involves meeting random people should know by now that it's a safety risk. People have been killed using it. He should go after the ex instead, unless he demanded grindr's help in finding out who it was and they refused

I'm afraid if this becomes common, it will be the end of services like this

Same can be done with eBay, the yellow pages, or by simply writing a number in a bathroom stall, along with "for a good time call".


I fail to see how grinder could be held responsible.

KevinKohler said:

Same can be done with eBay, the yellow pages, or by simply writing a number in a bathroom stall, along with "for a good time call".


I fail to see how grinder could be held responsible.

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because they won't give up the name of the harassers or even ban them, rather continues to provide a means to increase the harassment. Shouldn't need a court order for that and the victim shouldn't have to find out who it is magically on his own and put a stop to it. Just evidence that it's happening should be enough and 1100 showing up at his house and business uninvited is plenty

Pissing off and leaving a partner is dangerous business, be they straight or gay. Lots of people die after doing just that. My advice---and I have lots of experience, trust me--is to let them down easy, fall on your sword or give them reason to be glad you are asking to get out of the relationship. If that fails, move far enough away without leaving forwarding info so that finding you becomes more trouble than it is worth.

I found that offering to hand your ex a bunch of money works wonders. They usually catch on that doing something stupid will cost them a huge chunk of that settlement and hold back on seeking revenge long enough to collect as much of the original offer that they can get. And, by the time they are paid, much of the initial anger has dissipated.

Of course, to do that you need to swallow some pride and, of course, have some cash.

KevinKohler said:

I fail to see how grinder could be held responsible.

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Well from the article..."According to the complaint, there have been more than 100 reports flagging the fake profiles in Grindr's app, resulting in only generic replies from Grindr ("Thank you for your report.")."

And this from Grindr...""committed to creating a safe environment through a system of digital and human screening tools, while also encouraging users to report suspicious and threatening activities. While we are constantly improving upon this process, it is important to remember that Grindr is an open platform. Grindr cooperates with law enforcement on a regular basis and does not condone abusive or violent behavior."

So you have Grindr saying that they are committed to creating a safe environment and that they cooperate with law enforcement...yet it doesn't look like anything is being done about it.

You'd think that they'd be a little more proactive about this especially since this is only one way that this could be abused. I can think of several ways that this could be abused that could result in violence.

chromium said:

Everyone who uses grindr or anything else that involves meeting random people should know by now that it's a safety risk. People have been killed using it. He should go after the ex instead, unless he demanded grindr's help in finding out who it was and they refused

I'm afraid if this becomes common, it will be the end of services like this

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But this particular "prank" could be done to someone who doesn't use the service. Hell, it could be done to someone who has never even been on the internet.

Skeptic Bob said:

But this particular "prank" could be done to someone who doesn't use the service. Hell, it could be done to someone who has never even been on the internet.

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That only increases the liability of grindr for doing nothing and would only make the victims more livid

I see now that he should go after the stalker, but grindr is preventing the victim from being able to do that. He can't even get a restraining order if he doesn't know who's doing it

I hate being human, we have so many problems.

Skeptic Bob said:

But this particular "prank" could be done to someone who doesn't use the service. Hell, it could be done to someone who has never even been on the internet.

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This "prank" could also be used in a way to create violence. Say someone who has a grudge against a homosexual. They look up the homosexual's Grindr profile and then create a profile that matches it...only the person and the address the homosexual is being sent to is one who has a criminal record regarding homosexuals in general.

Dude shows up and the fur flies.

dirtpoorchris said:

Grindr can nip this in the bud by improving their "someone is mimicking my account" algorythim to include names, ip of person who mimicked, common pictures n such.

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I think if you try to get someone raped, you should be legally liable. That's incitement.

Skeptic Bob said:

But this particular "prank" could be done to someone who doesn't use the service. Hell, it could be done to someone who has never even been on the internet.

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^ I agree with this. This level of harassment could be accomplished through a number of means. Doing it via Grindr still takes a VERY serious amount of dedication to come even close to the level cited in the article.

Hypnotoad said:

Thoughts?

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I don't think it's a question that is at all different than any other social media platform's responsibilities or policies on preventing harassment. I'm certain if a stalker was dedicated enough, he or she could find creative ways to harass another person using Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or other services. Therefore the question is, "Do social media companies have a legal responsibility to enact policies/rules to protect their user base from online harassment or bullying."

Unfortunately I don't know if there is such a law on the books.

Hypnotoad said:

This "prank" could also be used in a way to create violence. Say someone who has a grudge against a homosexual. They look up the homosexual's Grindr profile and then create a profile that matches it...only the person and the address the homosexual is being sent to is one who has a criminal record regarding homosexuals in general.

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Not technically feasible on Grindr - There's not really a way to look up a user. It's location based. However what violence it has been used for - like in Russia - is gang members posing as gay men, setting up dates or hookups, and then attacking the guy when he shows up at a specified location.