[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Ever heard of Grindr? I bet you haven’t. But if you have heard of it and use it, that might be dangerous if you live in this part of the world. You might get arrested and sentenced for it. Let’s cut to the chase. Grindr is a dating app, but it is not just another dating app. Other apps now lets you meet up with people of the same gender but before all that started Grindr paved the way.
Grindr is an app created by Israeli entrepreneur Joel Simkhai exclusively for gay men to make friends. The app launched in March 2009, 10 years ago before the rainbow movement gained popularity.
The gay hook-up site, Gaydar, had helped lots of homosexuals to connect but then Grindr came and changed the game. Using iPhone’s Satellite location, it helped men find other men of similar s****l orientation that were close to them. It became a revolution for online dating.
Ten years after, Grindr now has more than three million daily users in up to 200 countries. It has also seen a few success stories of great hook-ups and happy marriages.
But it has not been all rosy with Grindr. In 2016, Stephen Port, a famous British serial killer, used the app to kill and r**e victims. He was jailed for killing four young men and r****g four others.
Also, in 2018, a British man by the name, Daryll Rowe was jailed for deliberately passing HIV on to several other men he met on the app.
The Nigerian angle
Ethan Regal, in 2014, shared a story on popular Nigeria online platform Nairaland on his experience with being gay in Nigeria. He wrote,
“Here in Nigeria, I haven’t met a single gay guy, at least not one that I know of. I have tried chatting to some men through Grindr, but I fear someone might track me and arrest or kill me.”
The app seems to be in operation in the Nigerian very lowkey LGBT community. Homosexuality is a criminal offense in Nigeria. If caught, a person can receive a sentence of up to 14 years in jail.
Also, in a 2017 Facebook post by controversial Nigerian LGBTQ advocate Bisi Alimi, he explained:
“Grindr is being used in Nigeria to lure the gay community into dangerous situations. Grindr had modified the app to disable location tracking in countries where there are anti-gay laws. This list included Nigeria.”
He added that in “2015, security firm Synack independently confirmed that Grindr was posing security threats to the gay community.”
So, in case you were wondering why Grindr isn’t a popular dating app in Nigeria, we hope you have your answer.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]