Grindr, a popular gay social networking app, has issued a warning to its users in Egypt after reports of police impersonating community members to target LGBTQ+ individuals. The warning, displayed in Arabic and English when users open the app, cautions users to take extra caution online and offline due to the possibility of fake accounts and accounts taken over by police from real community members who have already been arrested and had their phones confiscated. Homosexuality is not technically outlawed in Egypt, but the LGBTQ+ community is frequently prosecuted under the grounds of “debauchery” or “violating public decency”. In 2017, seven people were arrested for raising a rainbow flag at a rock concert, while arrests of homosexuals and non-gender conforming individuals remain common.
The warning from Grindr comes after rights groups and media reports have documented how authorities in the wider region are increasingly using digital platforms to crack down on the LGBTQ+ community. Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report in February documenting dozens of cases of security agencies in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and Tunisia extorting, harassing, publicly outing, and detaining LGBTQ+ people based on their activities on Facebook, Instagram, and dating apps such as Grindr. The report also criticised major tech companies for not investing enough in Arabic language content moderation and protection.
In response to a request for comment, Grindr spokesperson Patrick Lenihan said, “Grindr is working with groups on the ground in Egypt to make sure our users have up-to-date information on how to stay safe, and we are pushing international organisations and governments to demand justice and safety for the Egyptian LGBTQ+ community.” Grindr, which is based in California, has faced criticism in the United States and has been fined in Norway for sharing personal data with third parties that could potentially identify users. The company’s privacy policy outlines how it uses and aims to protect user data and emphasizes its goal of putting users in control of as much of their personal information shared on the app as possible.