One Dating App Has Just Taken On a 'Very Tricky Battle'

Bumble to yank pictures of users with guns, knives, or other dangerous weapons
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 6, 2018 4:33 AM CST
Dating App Is Yanking Pictures of Users With Guns, Weapons
You won't see pics like this anymore on Bumble, unless users get special dispensation.   (Getty Images/kali9)

Bumble's slogan is "Date, Meet, Network Better," not "Show Off Your Glock, Meet, Network Better." Which is why, in the wake of mass shootings such as the one in Parkland, the dating app is nixing any individual photos showing users with guns, knives, or other dangerous weapons, per Business Insider. "As mass shootings continue to devastate communities across the country, it's time to state unequivocally that gun violence is not in line with our values, nor do these weapons belong on Bumble," the company said on its blog. The blog also notes Bumble has been at the forefront of banning iffy sexual content and hate speech. "We just want to create a community where people feel at ease, where they do not feel threatened, and we just don't see guns fitting into that equation," CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd tells the New York Times, adding she knows the company is fighting a "very tricky battle."

Bumble—which is also donating $100,000 to the anti-gun-violence March for Our Lives event set for later this month—plans to enforce the new mandate via its 5,000 or so moderators, who will sift through new and existing profiles to look for weapons in pictures, says Herd. Exempt from the new rule: lovers-to-be in law enforcement or the military who are in uniform. Also not falling under the ban are pictures on a user's Instagram, which can be incorporated into one's Bumble profile. Aficionados who really want to show off their weapons (e.g., if they're a pro sports shooter) can appeal on an individual basis to have their pictures put back up. Herd also got in a dig against Facebook and Twitter, saying she hopes her platform is being more "proactive. If I could police every other social platform in the world, I would," she tells the Times. (More online dating stories.)

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