By Kathryn Wolper
Tinder has added a feature that promotes safe sex and provides information about STD testing facilities near its users. This change in Tinder’s offerings is a response to a campaign by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), which is based in Los Angeles. AHF’s campaign included billboards around LA that link the use of hookup apps like Tinder and Grindr to the spread of STDs. According to Newsweek, AHF’s campaign led to legal action. Tinder sent the foundation a cease and desist letter in September of 2015, insisting that the campaign was “falsely associating Tinder with the contraction of venereal diseases,” Newsweek reports. This letter, however, did not end the feud. AHF, as an advocate of sexual safety, refused to back down for months.
Since Tinder began referring users to its health safety web page, AHF has stopped campaigning against the popular hookup app. Tinder’s new precautions, however, do not go far enough to warn its users of the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases. Tinder has only added a link to a page on its website that gives cursory information about STDs, their causes and how to prevent them. The information is not contained within the app itself. Instead, users must follow a link in an information folder in the app. The link is not central to most users’ experiences with Tinder. Although the information provided on the page is helpful and an encouraging reminder for those participating actively in hookup culture, it is largely inaccessible. Information is only valuable if paired with ease of access. In other words, information that few people can find is as useful as no information at all.
If Tinder was serious about lessening its relationship to STDs, it would include information about the risks of hookups, as well as advice about communicating openly with potential partners within the app in an easily accessible location. Such reminders would bring thoughts about risk reduction to the forefront of users’ experiences on Tinder.
Instead, the measly effort feels like an attempt to appease critics by doing the bare minimum. AHF should recognize the feebleness of Tinder’s efforts and demand more from the app’s developers. Tinder’s creators should wield their success and power in the hookup app market responsibly.
Ultimately, responsible and safe sex is the responsibility of Tinder’s users, not of the app itself.
Consenting adults should, regardless of the accessibility of STD information in an app, know how to communicate openly about STD status and protection. While apps may encourage and facilitate hookup culture, they are not responsible for its effects on public health.
