LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr warns Egypt users of police-run accounts
Grindr says police are using fake accounts and taking over real accounts from arrested members.
A popular gay social networking application has said it is issuing a warning to its users in Egypt as police pose as members of the community to target LGBTQ+ individuals.
Users in Egypt will see the following warning appear in Arabic and English when they open the app: “We have been warned that the Egyptian police are actively arresting gay, bisexual and transgender people on digital platforms. They are using fake accounts and have also taken over accounts of real members of the community who have already been arrested and had their phones taken. Take extra care online and offline, even with accounts that may have seemed legitimate in the past.”
Egypt, while not technically outlawing homosexuality, regularly persecutes members of the LGBTQ+ community on the grounds of “debauchery” or “moral delinquency”.
In 2017, it arrested seven people for raising a rainbow flag at a rock concert. And arrests of homosexuals and gender non-conforming persons remain common.
The warning to users comes after rights groups and media reported how authorities in the wider region are increasingly using digital platforms to crack down on the LGBTQ+ community.
HRW report
In February, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report documenting dozens of cases of security agencies in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Tunisia extorting, harassing, publicly expelling and detaining LGBTQ+ people based on their activities on Facebook and Instagram . as well as the dating app Grindr. The publication also questioned major tech companies for not investing enough in moderating and protecting Arabic language content.
“Grindr is working with groups on the ground in Egypt to ensure our users have up-to-date information on how to stay safe, and we are urging international organizations and governments to demand justice and security for Egypt’s LGBTQ community,” said a Grindr spokesperson. Patrick Lenihan in response to a request for comment on Friday.
California-based Grindr was criticized in the United States and fined in Norway for sharing personal information with third parties that could potentially identify users.
The privacy policy on the company’s website describes how it uses and tries to protect user data. It adds that its goal “is to put you in control of as much personal information that you share within the Grindr Properties.”