Grindr: Risk to National Security?
Intersectionality, accessibility, and squashing the sexist, patriarchal norms through queer…
Grindr, which describes itself as the world’s largest social networking app for gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people, has come under scrutiny (again) for practices that have been raised by U.S. government’s national security panel as concerning.
As reported by Reuters, the popular app owned by Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd since 2016, is seeking a new owner to sell to. After being made aware that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) constitutes Kunlun’s ownership of the American company a national security risk, the company is now putting the app up for public auction.
Due to the nature of the gay dating app, the company collects personal information submitted by its users, including a person’s location, messages, and in some cases even someone’s HIV status, according to its privacy policy, Reuters reported. Listed as the major concern to national security by CFIUS, the committee has chosen to intervene in the full acquisition and forced the hand of the Chinese company to pass the torch.
According to their sources, Grindr has hired investment bank Cowen Inc. to handle the sale process, and is soliciting acquisition interest from U.S. investment firms, as well as Grindr’s competitors. As complications are bound to ensue, many are asking themselves, could this be the end of Grindr as we know it? Some have taken to social media to voice their thoughts.
It had been kind of a slow week in social networks + democracy … and then Grindr was declared a national security risk ???????????????? https://t.co/0ywGxL1ZtX
— Casey Newton (@CaseyNewton) March 27, 2019
china is building a database on US persons to use for influence operations . Using grindr is particularly insidious as they will “out” closeted gay and use that threat to get what they want with massive national security implications.
— Kyle Bass (@Jkylebass) March 27, 2019
This is a big deal. But industry sources say it’s a bit late. Chinese already have a scary amount of location and personal data on Grindr users. A bit like locking the vault after the bank has been robbed. https://t.co/72yRwObKEf
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) March 27, 2019
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