Dating apps' lack of safeguards put LGBTQ+ Africans at risk

• Online dating offers crucial connections
• Digital platforms exploited by criminals, governments
• Safeguards specifically for LGBTQ+ people needed

LGBTQ+ Africans who live in countries where being out is risky have turned to dating apps as safe spaces, but pervasive intolerance and state surveillance can make online dating potential traps.

From Nigeria to Kenya, threats loom over those who disclose personal details, making every interaction a calculated risk. Digital ambushes are alarmingly frequent, underscoring the critical need for proactive measures.

"These platforms provide one of the few spaces where they can connect, build community and explore relationships without the fear of immediate public exposure. For many, they serve as a refuge from societal stigma and isolation," said Athens-based Rasha Younes, a senior researcher with the LGBT Rights Programme at Human Rights Watch.

"However, this reliance also makes users vulnerable, as authorities and malicious actors exploit these platforms to target LGBT individuals, often with devastating consequences."

Almost half of the 64 countries that criminalise homosexuality are in Africa, according to the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association’s (ILGA) database. 

In places like Uganda, Mauritania and parts of Nigeria, this can carry the death penalty.

A 2023 report from Human Rights Watch documented how government digital-targeting tactics led to the arbitrary arrests and torture of LGBTQ+ people in detention by security forces.

The report said that Egypt in particular used arrests and prosecutions against foreigners, "suggesting a coordinated policy—either directed or acquiesced to by senior government officials—to persecute LGBT people."

A lack of LGBTQ+ protections in the offline world also makes them targets for online criminals, it said.

"Social media and dating platforms have also become spaces where so many community members have become victims of blackmail, extortion, sexual harassment, impersonation, public outing, doxxing and disclosure of health information by bad actors who target and harm them," Ebenezer Peegah, the executive director of Accra-based LGBTQ+ rights group Rightify Ghana, told Context.

Trans men are disproportionately affected by rapists and sex offenders, as well as blackmail from women, and are inundated by requests for photos, invasive questions and scam calls, said a spokesperson for Trans Rising Zimbabwe, a trans and intersex community-based organisation.

'Lack of willingness'

Advocates want companies like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and dating apps Grindr and Romeo to prioritise safeguards, including anonymity and robust privacy protocols, to protect LGBTQ+ Africans.

Platforms could add features to their apps to mitigate government surveillance, including a one-step account lockdown tool and allowing users to hide their contact lists and remotely wipe all content and accounts on a device.

LGBTQ+ people are also at risk of kito, a slang term used in Nigeria, in which LGBTQ+ individuals are lured through dating apps and filmed for blackmail in a country where 97% of the population opposes same sex marriage.

Victims are often robbed of their phones during these incidents, preventing them from making in-app reports, Blackmailers then use the victim's social media accounts to infiltrate other groups.

"Whilst Meta has collaborated with Rightify Ghana to take action on some cases, they refused to suspend or take action against those contacts as they said that the harm wasn't done on the platform," Peegah said.

"The platform owners need to do more to protect their users from harm. There is very little that LGBTQI community members can do because even reporting incidents in-app doesn't give the best response."

Meta did not respond to a request for comment.

And law enforcement "often exhibited a lack of willingness or capacity' to work on cases" involving LGBTQ+ people, according to a 2024 report by the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA).

Some victims fight back by sharing images and information of their attackers in online communities. Others have testified in court against their assailants.

But many, especially women who face greater social stigma, are still loath to speak out to keep their sexuality private, according to the EUAA.

Technology companies have introduced some protections. Grindr alerts users they are in a place where being LGBTQ+ puts them in danger and has partnered with a legal aid clinic's hotline in Kenya, it told Context last year.

Meta has said it alerts LGBTQ+ individuals against potential scammers and allows them to report threatening direct messages.  

But the U.S.-based tech giant now allows for more insulting speech against members of the LGBTQ community following President Donald Trump's election. 

Design for safety

Companies have not invested enough in content moderation and improving data privacy, the New York-based digital rights group Access Now said in a December report.

"Digital platforms are becoming tools for 'rainbow burning' — that is, the practice of stoking hatred and violence against LGBTQ+ people for political gain," wrote Nairobi-based Africa campaigner wrote Jaimee Kokonya.

Platforms could disclose how much they spend on user safety and security and divulge employees’ diversity, regional expertise and language proficiency, Younes told Context.

Other steps may include a rapid response mechanism for LGBTQ+ complaints in risky places.

Design from the Margins, a methodology developed by designers at New Haven, Connecticut-based De|Center and British human rights organisation Article 19, recommends features like in-app calls, private contact lists and less-specific location information to keep LGBTQ+ people safe.

A Grindr spokesperson told Context that it worked with Article 19 to build its safety features and encourages users to use its video calling before meeting in person and to report suspicious behaviour. Real humans moderate content and check profiles, the spokesperson said.

Romeo did not provide comment to Context before the time of publication.

This content is part of a series supported by Hivos's Free to Be Me programme.

(Reporting by Adam Smith; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley and Sadiya Ansari.)