BOYCOTT BADOO, BUMBLE, TINDER AND HINGE.
I don't say that lightly, but after more than a year of trying to get a proper explanation from these platforms, I'm genuinely disappointed and exhausted by the whole thing.
Over a year ago, I was blocked from Badoo, Bumble, Tinder and Hinge at essentially the same time.
And when I say it happened out of nowhere, I mean it.
I was literally sitting on a bus coming back from Glasgow, casually swiping through profiles.
I wasn't arguing with anyone. I wasn't sending inappropriate messages. I wasn't doing anything that I could reasonably understand as triggering a ban.
One minute I was swiping.
The next, I was blocked.
More than a year later, I still haven't been given a meaningful explanation of what I actually did wrong.
Every attempt to get an answer seems to result in the same generic response about “Community Guidelines”.
Okay.
Which guideline did I break? What specifically did I do? What evidence was used? Show me.
Because here's what I experienced while using these apps.
I had men sending me unsolicited dick pics.
I had men repeatedly asking me for sex after I'd already made it clear I wasn't interested.
I experienced people refusing to take no for an answer.
I encountered someone apparently using fake photographs who appeared to be the same person I'd already rejected seven or eight times. When someone's behaviour became concerning enough that I felt I was being harassed, I warned them that I would involve the police.
Did I occasionally tell someone to fuck off?
Absolutely.
If somebody repeatedly ignores “no”, continues contacting me, catfishes me or makes me feel unsafe, I'm not going to sit there worrying about whether telling them to fuck off might hurt their feelings.
Yet somehow, I'm the one who ended up banned.
And before anyone tries to twist this into me pretending I've never had a sexual conversation online, of course I have.
We're human. We all get horny from time to time.
Have I sexted someone when we were both into it and consenting? Yes.
There's a pretty fucking enormous difference between consensual sexting and sending somebody sexual photographs they never asked to receive.
I still call guys out for this on Snapchat today.
I'll be talking to someone and ask:
“Can I see a photo of you?”
And apparently, for some men, that translates automatically into:
DICK PIC.
No. 😂
I asked to see YOU.
Your face.
The actual human being I'm talking to.
Has the world gone fucking nuts to the point where asking someone for a photo automatically means you want a photograph of their dick?
Do dicks walk down the road by themselves now? Do they go on dates? Are faces optional extras?
If I want a sexual photograph from somebody, I'll ask. If they want to send one, I'm interested and we're both consenting adults, brilliant.
That's called consent.
But “send me a photo of you” shouldn't require the additional disclaimer:
“YOUR FACE, PLEASE. KEEP YOUR TROUSERS ON.”
And that's partly why this whole situation frustrates me so much.
These platforms talk constantly about safety and Community Guidelines, yet in my experience unsolicited sexual content became almost normalised.
Meanwhile, I wasn't sending unsolicited nude photographs. I wasn't sexually harassing strangers. I wasn't pretending to be somebody else.
I was genuinely trying to date and meet someone.
And now I've started looking into this more, I've discovered I'm far from the only person talking about unexplained dating-app bans.
I've seen discussions on Reddit and other social media platforms from people describing remarkably similar experiences. In the conversations I've personally come across, I've noticed other gay men talking about this too.
I'm not claiming this exclusively affects gay men. I don't have the evidence to say that, and I'm completely open to being corrected if other groups are experiencing the same thing.
But I think there's a serious conversation to be had about what happens to gay men who are genuinely looking for relationships when they lose access to mainstream dating spaces.
Because where exactly are we supposed to go?
Increasingly, we're left relying on apps primarily associated with gay hookups and sexual encounters, and then trying to rewrite our profiles and use those spaces for something they weren't primarily designed around:
Actually dating someone.
And there is absolutely nothing wrong with hookups.
There's nothing wrong with wanting sex.
But some of us want more than that.
Some of us want dates.
Some of us want companionship.
Some of us want relationships.
Some of us actually want to fall in love.
How are we supposed to find that when mainstream dating apps can seemingly remove you without properly explaining why, while elsewhere you're dealing with catfishing, fake photographs, unsolicited sexual content and people who simply refuse to accept the word “no”?
And what makes my situation even more confusing is that these apps aren't even all operated by the same company. Badoo and Bumble are together, while Tinder and Hinge are together under a different company.
Yet I found myself shut out across all four at essentially the same time.
How?
That's a genuine question.
What disappoints me most isn't even simply being banned.
It's the complete lack of transparency afterwards.
If I've genuinely done something wrong, tell me.
Give me the specific incident.
Give me the guideline I've breached.
Give me the opportunity to explain what happened.
Actually investigate it.
And give people a meaningful appeal process where another human being looks at the circumstances rather than sending another generic copy-and-paste message about Community Guidelines.
If you investigate something properly and conclude I've broken your rules, fine. At least then I know what I'm actually accused of doing.
But more than a year later, I'm still asking the same basic question:
What did I do?
Community Guidelines are important. Safety is important. Moderation is important.
But accountability and transparency work both ways.
So yes:
BOYCOTT BADOO.
BOYCOTT BUMBLE.
BOYCOTT TINDER.
BOYCOTT HINGE.
I'm incredibly disappointed in these platforms. Not simply because they banned me, but because when someone genuinely asks for help understanding what has happened, the response shouldn't be another generic paragraph and a link to Community Guidelines.
Treat people like human beings. Look into the individual circumstances. Give people an explanation.
Because right now, as we get further into 2026, it's becoming increasingly difficult not to feel like being gay means being single for the rest of your life.
How are you supposed to properly date someone when you're being banned from mainstream dating apps without explanation, being catfished by people pretending to be somebody else, dealing with unsolicited sexual content and then being pushed towards apps where the expectation is predominantly sexual?
Maybe that's dramatic.
But I'm genuinely disappointed that this is what modern gay dating increasingly feels like.
I don't just want sex. I want to meet somebody. I want dates. I want a relationship. I want something real.
And apparently in 2026, simply finding somewhere to genuinely look for that is becoming the hardest part.