Grindr is not in the business of politics at all. I don’t comment on politics, which has been my policy since I’ve been here, so I’m not going to comment on that. Gay people have very different views, and I don’t think that should affect the way I run my company. My job is to make sure 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. We do not make political commentary unless it is fundamentally related to our core business.
But users bring their politics to the platform. In July there was a public outcry over the blocking of users who posted the phrase “No Zionists” in their profiles.
We’ve already commented on that, but I’m glad the team sent you a release about it. [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.”]
Over the past few months, controlling stakeholders have tried and failed to take the company private. How do you feel about this?
I can only say things that are public, but I will say a few things. One, it’s really important to recognize that the three investors—Ray, James and Michael Gearon—who bought this Chinese-owned company in 2020 saved the company. No investment was being made in the product during the ownership period from 2017 to 2020. The team was decimated, and the technical debt the company was accumulating was incredibly heavy. Ultimately this will have a negative impact on the product. So he did a great service in saving the company from Chinese ownership. They’re investors, so they did it for financial reasons, obviously, but there was a big benefit from it. And then they took the company public [in November 2022],
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