[Article to be found in the spring issue of the têtu· magazine, available at newsstands or by subscription.] To fight the scourge of ambushes targeting gay men, four of the largest dating apps in France have devised an action plan with the Interministerial Delegation for the Fight against Anti-LGBT Hate (DILCRAH).
Illustration: Romain Lami for têtu·
Better late than never. While têtu· and several community associations have been warning public authorities for years about the scourge of homophobic ambushes, dating apps were turning a blind eye. Taking matters into their own hands to fight against these criminal acts reported each week in the press, the Interministerial Delegation for the Fight against Racism, Anti-Semitism and Anti-LGBT Hate (DILCRAH), attached to the Ministry of Equality, has brought together LGBTQI+ associations and apps to draft a charter establishing an action plan.
In this text signed by Grindr, Tinder, Happn and Bumble, the platforms commit to better informing users, facilitating reporting of potentially dangerous profiles, encouraging profile verification, and increasing cooperation with law enforcement. “These acts of unprecedented violence must stop and we must do everything possible to curb this phenomenon,” pleads Aurore Bergé, the minister in charge of Fighting Discrimination.
Prevention
Information being the cornerstone of the fight against ambushes, the apps commit to providing, from the moment a user account is created, guidance they promise to repeat throughout navigation. Standard messages that could become personalized, since the apps promise to study the possibility of automatic analysis of exchanges, in order to alert the user in case of suspicious interaction. Already, the apps commit to strengthening their moderation capabilities, both human and technical, to both process reports of dubious users but also to identify, through “keyword detection” determined with the help of associations, “violent, discriminatory or threatening” behaviors.
Verification
Better control of users is also on the agenda of this action plan. The State encourages the apps to implement verification systems “by selfie, biometrics or identity document.” A sensitive measure, given that the anonymity of dating apps is a non-negotiable criterion for many of us. That is why this validation will be encouraged but not mandatory to continue surfing Grindr and the like. To secure their own navigation, users will have the option to filter profiles according to whether they have been verified or not. “The objective is not to restrict the freedom to use the platforms, says Minister Aurore Bergé, but to ensure that this freedom can be exercised in better safety.“
Reporting
The charter provides a section devoted to reporting threatening or suspicious users. A new, specific reporting category must thus be created concerning the “risks of violence and ambushes.” The charter partners commit to using it to study the quantitative evolution of these reports, in order to document the phenomenon.
Then, when a user is reported for this reason, everything must be done to ensure that they are effectively excluded from the apps. Users reported repeatedly in this context can be identified by their “names, first names, device, email, phone or IP address” and thus remain “monitored” by the apps to “limit the risk of recurrence,” i.e., prevent them from creating a new account once the previous one is deactivated. Finally, the State encourages, where technically and legally possible, to ban users from all services within the same group. And even to undertake collective work to block undesirable users from one app to another.
Cooperation
Finally, because it would be naïve to think that prevention measures alone will eradicate the phenomenon, the apps commit to cooperate with the justice system when assaults occur. Law enforcement and judges, who have pointed to a dire lack of communication with the platforms, which hinders the collection of evidence during investigations into homophobic ambushes, the charter provides that the apps open a “point of contact” for authorities to file their requests directly. They also pledge to transmit useful elements to investigations, including exchanges, so that they can be exploited if necessary. “The attackers must understand that victims file complaints, that they are very often arrested by the police and that the penalties they receive are heavy,” insists the minister. We can only encourage non-signatory apps to join the movement and public authorities to reiterate this collaboration framework on other prevention topics.
