In an ignorant act of homophobic violence, users on TikTok and Twitter used the gay-friendly dating app Grindr to identify LGBTQ+ athletes in the Tokyo Olympic Village and out them on social media.
For many athletes, the posts took the very personal, intentional decision to come out publicly as LGBTQ+ and turned it into a sudden reveal without their consent.
But perhaps more problematic, many of the athletes face serious threats as their home countries still consider homosexuality illegal.
Insider reported users online were able to locate the athletes using Grindr's "Explore" feature, which allows users to choose any location on earth and see the profiles logged in there.
At least four such posts surfaced on TikTok and over 10 others have been seen on Twitter. And a few of those included zoomed in images showing the full faces of LGBTQ+ athletes.
To put the danger into perspective, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, all of whom have athletes in this years games, still have laws that allow homosexuality to be punished with corporal punishment or even execution.
Of course, plenty of other countries that don't criminalize homosexuality still are home to anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes and violence.
And Japan, where the Olympic Games are being hosted, only just ruled its ban on gay marriage unconstitutional in May.
In response to the posts, TikTok removed the videos for violating community guidelines. Twitter also removed the posts, stating they "violated the Twitter Rules against hateful conduct and will need to be removed before the account owners can continue to use Twitter."
Grindr also denounced the posts.
They told Insider:
"...these individuals are in breach of Grindr's Terms and Conditions of Service which prohibit them from publicly displaying, publishing, or otherwise distributing any content or information that are part of the Grindr services."
"Out of respect for our users' privacy, and out of respect for the contractual commitments these individuals made, Grindr demands that these individuals remove their social media posts that include images from the Grindr platform."
When people heard the news, they were shocked and outraged.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Grindr has been used for homophobic acts during the Olympics.
During the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Nico Hines, a Daily Beast editor, explained how he used the app to chat with LGBTQ+ Olympians, outing them by sharing their identifying information throughout the piece.
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