The trial brought on Friday describes how Doe, then a high school student who was not yet gay, downloaded Grindr in order to be friends with other minor boys. He then exchanged photographs and explicit messages with the four adult men, who violated him in their homes or in the parks, depending on the complaint.
After the adolescent testified during their criminal trials, three of the four men were then found guilty of aiguously interfering with a child and imprisoned for periods between 24 and 54 months, according to the trial. The fourth has not been located.
Accusing the company of being aware that its product facilitates the rape of children, the trial is equivalent to Grindr to other organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic Church which “overthrow the systemic exploitation of sexual abuses on children”.
He accuses Grindr of marketing to children due to maintaining accounts on Instagram and Tiktok, social media platforms where many brands – other dating applications to alcohol companies – also have accounts.
The trial also highlights two Tiktok videos, which have since been deleted by Grindr, in which adult content creators claim to be students outside a high school or in a physical education course. The trial affirms that the latter “explicitly takes place explicitly in a high school, college or high school class”.
“With this video on Tiktok, Grindr directly markets children and targets with messages that indicate both Grindr should be used in school and should be used by children,” said the trial.
Grindr Teltok accountwhich has more than 138,000 subscribers, is systematically supported by creators of adult content who publish videos on behalf of the company.
The trial claims that Grindr could have prevented DOE abuses using a third -party age verification service, forcing a government identifier to use the application or by blocking its use in schools, among others.
Lenihan, Grindr’s spokesperson, said that Apple, Google, and the entire technological industry must work together to develop better age age technology that also respects user confidentiality.
Doe continues Grindr for a defective conception, a defective manufacturing, a defective warning, negligence and a false declaration by negligence. It also provides a request for civil action In a section of the American code This deals with the trafficking of human beings.
