Grindr Doesn’t respect your CONSENT if it means MAKING money.
When “No” Doesn’t Mean No: How GRINDR Fails to Respect User Consent
In an age where digital platforms proudly champion values like inclusivity, safety, and respect — it’s alarming when those very platforms undermine one of the most fundamental principles: consent.
Recently, I found myself in a frustrating and revealing exchange with GRINDR’s support team over a deceptively simple issue — turning off notifications. As a user, I made a clear and conscious choice to disable push notifications from the app. Yet, every time I sent a message, I was met with persistent and intrusive prompts pressuring me to turn them back on.
What started as an annoyance quickly evolved into something more serious: a reflection of how GRINDR, the platform, prioritise profit and engagement metrics over basic user boundaries.
In this article, I’m sharing the full email exchange — not just to highlight a poor user experience, but to open a broader conversation around how this company exploits user attention, disregard boundaries, and distort the very meaning of consent.
Screenshots don’t lie. And if you’ve ever felt ignored, pressured, or manipulated by the platforms you use daily, you may find this story all too familiar.
Grindr is Like CANCER – every update and change that this company makes is all about making more profits, limiting anything you can do and they certainly go out of the way. Which is why we’ve created a site to teach you how to block ADS when you use GRINDR
Grindr does not just disrespect you once by simply reminding you to turn on the notifications. They will send you the pop up on the left EVERY SINGLE time you send someone a message until you get so annoyed at it – you will turn notifications ON just to stop the constant harassment.
They want you to be engaged the whole time, they want you actively using their app – because it makes them look more appealing when they go to comanies approaching them to advertise about their engagement rate.
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My Initial Question to Grindr support regarding Consent and what it means
Hi.
I’m just wanting to understand what consent means.
If you ask someone for sex, and they say no, does that mean you keep asking them until they say yes?
I just want to understand what grindr’s view of consent is.
Received this response from one of their Escalations team member
Anthony (Grindr Support)
Thank you for reaching out to us.
We have an article on “Consent” in our Help Center. You can read it here.
Consent is an explicit agreement between participants to engage in sexual activity. It should be clearly, freely and enthusiastically communicated. In summary, consent should happen for every sexual activity and it can withdrawn at any moment.
You do NOT have consent if a partner says “no,” “stop,” stays silent, or says yes but seems unsure or uncomfortable. Additionally, repeatedly asking for consent after being denied would violate the “freely given” requirement of proper consent.
You can read more on this in our article, and you can also access these resources:
Understanding Consent | RAINN
How to Respond if Someone Is Pressuring You | RAINN
How Do You Know if Someone Wants to Have Sex with You? | Planned Parenthood Video
What Is Sexual Consent? | Facts About Rape & Sexual Assault
What do healthy sexual interactions look like?
Power and Our RelationshipsLet me know if you need any further help.
Best,
Anthony @ Grindr Escalations
Following this, I asked them about how my respect is not consented by their APP
Hi Anthony,
Thank you for your response and for clarifying your position.
I’m well aware of what consent means — my concern was whether GRINDR, as a company, applies the same understanding in practice.
With that in mind, I’d like to raise a genuine question: If a user disables notifications, why does GRINDR repeatedly prompt — even pressure — them to re-enable them every time they send a message? If “no” truly means “no,” shouldn’t that decision be respected?
This ongoing behaviour feels less like a reminder and more like coercion, which runs counter to the very principle of consent. It raises the question: does GRINDR apply its values consistently when it comes to respecting users’ choices?
I completely understand that user engagement is important from a business perspective. However, there are valid reasons a person may wish to silence notifications — whether it’s to avoid interruptions, preserve privacy, or simply show family something on their device without unexpected alerts appearing.
Ultimately, if users are not given the freedom to make a choice and have that choice honoured, then can it really be considered consent?
How can you send me information on CONSENT but know that your company does not respect their users consent.
The morals and principals of your company continue to get murkier with every update.
Please help me to understand why CONSENT does not apply to GRINDR and it’s user base.
Thanks.
No means No right?
Their response, where they minimise the lack of respect for their users consent.
Anthony (Grindr Support)
Aug 1, 2025, 10:48 PDT
Hey there,
Thank you for your feedback regarding our notification prompts.
I will forward your comments to our internal team for consideration.
Let me know if you need any further assistance.
Best,
Anthony @ Grindr Escalations
My response back to them
Hi Anthony,
Thank you for your response and for clarifying your position.
I’m well aware of what consent means — my concern was whether GRINDR, as a company, applies the same understanding in practice.
With that in mind, I’d like to raise a genuine question: If a user disables notifications, why does GRINDR repeatedly prompt — even pressure — them to re-enable them every time they send a message? If “no” truly means “no,” shouldn’t that decision be respected?
This ongoing behaviour feels less like a reminder and more like coercion, which runs counter to the very principle of consent. It raises the question: does GRINDR apply its values consistently when it comes to respecting users’ choices?
I completely understand that user engagement is important from a business perspective. However, there are valid reasons a person may wish to silence notifications — whether it’s to avoid interruptions, preserve privacy, or simply show family something on their device without unexpected alerts appearing.
Ultimately, if users are not given the freedom to make a choice and have that choice honoured, then can it really be considered consent?
How can you send me information on CONSENT but know that your company does not respect their users consent.
The morals and principals of your company continue to get murkier with every update.
Please help me to understand why CONSENT does not apply to GRINDR and it’s user base.
Thanks.
No means No right?
Will update you on their response – however This is just to show you how hypocritical this company is. Consent should be for everyone – not just when it comes to Sex.
Update – 10/8/25 – Case has been closed. It looks like GRINDR doesn’t like responding to why it doesn’t respect consent.
Just remember – Grindr talks about Consent being ESSENTIAL on their own community guidelines here
How to access your support Tickets to do a charge back and show that GRINDR is not responding to your messages (It’s as though GRINDR has made the ability for you to access your support tickets hard for a reason, most likely so you leave them alone)
First login to GRINDR helpdesk here – https://grindr.zendesk.com/auth/v2/login/signin
Once there – it will load the help page, however it appears that GRINDR has made it hard to look for the status of your ticket so once you are signed in click on this link – https://help.grindr.com/hc/en-us/requests/
This page will now make it alot easier to show your Credit Card company that GRINDR is ignoring you so that you can get a charge back (usually within 120 days / 4 months) of purchase.
Please see our other pages coming soon – how to create a new profile after a BAN and Charge back process for GRINDR