Grindr is unveiling new safety measures for LGBTQ+ athletes traveling to Europe for the Winter Olympics this week.
Approximately 2,900 athletes will converge on the Olympic Villages in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, from February 6 to February 22.
The event will showcase 19 days of sports competitions featuring more than 90 National Olympic Committees, including events like Alpine skiing, bobsleigh, curling, and snowboarding.
Athletes looking to add a romantic or thrilling element to their Olympic experience can do so with added safety through Grindr.
The Olympics are known for their vibrant social scene, with the 2024 games in Paris planning to provide more than 300,000 condoms, according to Sky News.
Grindr is enhancing its safety protocols to protect athletes, particularly those from countries where identifying as LGBTQ+ may still be considered illegal or unsafe, as they represent their nations at the global event.
AJ Balance, the chief product officer at Grindr, stated: “The Olympic Games bring heightened visibility, which can create real safety risks for LGBTQ+ athletes, especially those who are not out or come from countries where being LGBTQ+ is dangerous or illegal.
“These temporary changes are about reducing that risk and giving users greater control of their privacy while keeping the app available.”
Similar safety measures were successfully implemented by the app during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
This time, the Explore and Roam features will be disabled within the Olympic Villages, preventing users from outside the venues from browsing profiles.
This measure is crucial in protecting athletes from being identified and potentially ‘outed’.
Distance visibility will also be turned off by default, with the option for users to share their approximate distance if they choose.
This ensures athletes can connect without broadcasting their locations.
Once the Games start, all Olympic Village residents will receive access to features typically restricted behind a paywall.
According to Grindr’s blog, these features include the ability to unsend messages from both sides of a conversation and have disappearing messages deleted automatically after being read.
A screenshot blocking feature will prevent the capture and distribution of profiles and chat logs.
Additionally, the Private video feature, which allows a video to be viewed only once, will be entirely disabled within the Village.
These safety protocols were introduced after a journalist from the Daily Beast used the app during the 2016 Rio Olympics to report on village hook-up culture.
While the article did not explicitly identify athletes, it included identifying details such as height, weight, nationality, and descriptions of profile photos, as reported by the BBC.
The Daily Beast later removed the article and issued a statement addressing the situation, saying: “The article was not intended to do harm or degrade members of the LGBT community, but intent doesn’t matter, impact does.”