Four boys ‘raped by men they met on Grindr dating app last year’

A dating app popular with the LGBTQ+ community has been linked to dozens of sex abuse cases including children under the age of 13.

Four young boys, including two aged under 13, were allegedly raped by men they met on Grindr, an app which calls itself a ‘safe space’ for the community.

In the first 10 months of last year, UK police received at least 13 reports of serious sexual offences against children, including rape, where Grindr was the first point of contact between the suspect and victim.

And these figures, revealed during an i investigation, may not provide the full picture as several police forces did not provide data due to time constraints.

Grindr says it is an 18+ app, but these findings have raised concerns that children can bypass its age checks, which are failing to stop child sexual abuse.

Dozens of underage boys have gained access to the app and, while hoping to speak with other gay teenagers, instead have allegedly been sexually abused by older men.

Data obtained following a series of Freedom of Information requests shows that since 2019, UK police forces have received at least 130 reports of sexual offences allegedly perpetrated against minors where Grindr was listed as playing a key role, including nearly 40 reports of rape and multiple reports of children being paid for sex.

Since 2019, more than 100 additional sexual offences reportedly perpetrated against children have also been linked to Grindr, but the platform’s involvement in these offences is not fully known, partly as some forces refused to provide further clarity due to data protection laws.

The revelations have led to MPs, police and campaigners demanding urgent action to safeguard young people.

Jess Phillips, minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said: ‘These claims are incredibly concerning. Child sexual abuse, regardless of whether it is online or offline, is an abhorrent crime, and I am fully committed to using every lever possible to tackle it.

‘Through the Online Safety Act we are placing clear legal duties on online platforms to detect and report child sexual abuse, and we will continue to ensure law enforcement have the tools available to eliminate safe havens for criminals.’

Marcus Johnstone of PCF Solicitors, who specialises in criminal defence for sexual offences, says: ‘These are shocking findings but to me they are not surprising. I have dealt with several cases where my clients have allegedly met or “groomed” young boys on Grindr for sexual purposes.

‘The age to use the site is supposed to be 18 but it is well known that younger children go on the site pretending to be older.

‘That, of course, does not mean they should not be protected from harm and it is right that the government is trying to ensure tech companies, including dating apps, do more to prevent circumvention of age restrictions and to keep young people safe.

‘Sadly, in my course of work, I see many cases of child abuse which have been enabled by the internet.

‘Child abuse is an age-old problem in our society but frequently these days it is fuelled by or facilitated by the growing influence of technology in our modern world, whether that is porn, the creation of indecent images, grooming on Grindr, Roblox or on other apps and online meeting places.

‘The government often talks of keeping our streets safe, but it is increasingly online platforms that need to be policed and of focus for law enforcement if we want to stamp out and limit predatory sexual behaviour.’

Grindr is the world’s largest dating app for LGBTQ+ people and has about 1million users in the UK.

To make a profile, users have to provide their date of birth which shows they are at least 18. The Google Play and Apple app stores both also state that users must be adults.

Grindr says its app is always rated under the most age-restrictive settings which means a minor can only access Grindr if a parent or guardian has permitted the downloading of adult-only apps on the device that the minor is using.

But this isn’t the first time concerns about the app’s age verification have been raised.

Back in 2019, the government warned Grindr that its lack of effective age verification presented ‘a significant risk to child safety’, asking for an update about what the company was doing to prevent children using the platform.

In a letter, the government threatened ‘stronger statutory requirements for age verification’ should Grindr fail to introduce sufficient safeguards.

The new Online Safety Act, which comes into force this April, means dating services have until then to figure out if they could be accessed by children – and if so, they must implement measures to ‘mitigate risks’, Ofcom said.

If services fail to protect children, Ofcom can seek a court order to block access to particular services in the UK, or impose maximum fines of 10% of worldwide turnover or £18million, whichever is greater.

Ofcom said it will confirm in April whether dating apps must enforce strict age verification measures such as requiring definitive proof of a users’ identity and date of birth.

A spokesperson for Grindr told Metro: ‘There is no place in society for abuse of minors, and we wholly condemn anyone who commits crimes against children. 

‘Grindr is intended exclusively for adults aged 18 or over and goes to great lengths to prevent minors from accessing the app.

‘This includes an age gate, a substantial moderation team to identify and ban accounts at the device level if they are suspected to belong to minors or discuss topics related to minors, and deployment of AI and machine learning technology to proactively identify and ban similar accounts.  

‘Preventing minors from accessing adult-only apps and content is critically important across the Internet ecosystem, and we are actively engaged with the UK online safety regulator and online child safety groups to combat this industry-wide challenge.

‘We also cooperate with UK law enforcement requests in cases where perpetrators misuse our platform. 

‘As we’ve grown to serve millions of adults in the UK over the last several years, we’ve been increasing investment and further bolstering our approach to barring minors from the app.

‘We regularly enhance our safety strategy, including deploying evolving technologies (like AI-based detection tools) to increase the effectiveness of our defenses. 

‘For many gay and bi adult men in the UK and around the world, Grindr is the primary and often the only way to build a community.

‘For that reason, our users play an active role in reporting accounts that they suspect may belong to minors, which are then scrutinized by our moderation team.’

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