Scruff CEO Eric Silverberg: ‘Stop Sharing Data With Nations That Are Hostile to LGBTQ People’

Gay Dating App Scruff’s Secret to Staying Ahead of the Curve

Eric Silverberg is here for the people.

A developer by training, the CEO of Scruff helped to co-found the company back in 2010, and assisted in putting the GBTQ app for men on the map as one of the oldest apps on either store. With so much competition nowadays (especially in the dating sphere), being a successful app that thrives without being pushed out isn’t an easy task, yet Scruff has continued to stay ahead of the curve.

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“I could point to a lot of the great technical features that we have built and are very proud of, but I think it really comes down to the community that we have built and the commitment that we make to the community that we serve every day,” says Silverberg. “And I think [an] important distinguishing factor when it comes to Scruff versus our competition is the fact that we understand and empathize with our members.”

He makes a continued emphasis on the company’s decision to prioritize users’ concerns above all else, especially as a LGBTQ owned and operated business.

Without referencing the competition directly, Silverberg even throws a little shade their way, noting that “when you're behind layers of management, when you're seen as just an instrument for wealth generation, these become irritants, nuisances or things to be ignored, and you invest your time and resources optimizing for revenue, making more money and jamming in more ads” instead of listening to — and protecting — the consumers.

Scruff’s recent decision to halt any work alongside certain ad partners was based on the fact that it didn’t believe a commitment to the LGBTQ community would be honored if it continued on that path. Over time, it became clear to Scruff that certain ads were not targeted, and were actually the source of spammers or types of attacks where it would send you to other places on the internet.

According to Silverberg, these were the same ad partners that were trying to acquire HIV information from apps like Grindr, which has continued to take heat for its compliance in 2018. Ultimately, Scruff pulled back, doing what it felt was right while losing a significant amount of revenue in the process — but it wasn’t made with any regrets.

“Money was left on the table,” says Silverberg. “But this company believes that was the right decision, and that in the long run, it will be recognized as such. I believe that consumers, users and our community is becoming smarter and savvier about these sorts of things, asking more difficult questions of the apps that they're spending their time with. In the long run, we will be rewarded with greater usage, and just really greater respect … which is something that is hard to earn and easy to lose.”

Scruff continues to set records for its advertising revenue despite having $0 coming in from third party ad networks, investing time and effort into ads Silverberg describes as “quite beautiful” because of the effort put in to what they look like. He goes on to call out applaud those at the app for how involved they are in and out of the work atmosphere, pushing how important it is to use, consume and experience what you build in order to make decisions about data.

With the digital world undergoing such a massive transition when it comes to apps, data mining and maintaining privacy laws, Silverberg emphasizes “gay, queer, bi, trans, lesbian and queer spaces are under attack.” For apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge whose demographic has expanded outside the straight community, there’s a simple way they can support the LGBTQ+ community: Stop selling data.

“Stop sharing your data with nations that are hostile to LGBTQ people,” states Silverberg. “Put LGBTQ people on your senior leadership teams, put them on your boards. If you do not have LGBTQ people on your leadership team, you will not be sensitive to them. Representation matters. Inclusion matters. We recognize that the very severe consequences that can happen when these spaces are mismanaged. People, gay, straight, you name it, are going to start asking much harder questions of the companies that build these apps. And we encourage it, we applaud it and we're ready for it.”

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