Sex workers claim that dating app Tinder is discriminating against them by banning them from using the service.



In both Europe and North America, sex workers reported finding their accounts shut down, with Tinder offering no explanation other than that they had breached the app’s terms of service.

Tinder bans soliciting on its platform, but the women who BuzzFeed News spoke to said they were using the account purely for noncommercial dating purposes.

They said they had mentioned in their profiles that they were sex workers — but only because they wanted to be up front with people who they matched with.

Clementine, a 30-year-old sex worker based in Vancouver, said she recently had her account shut down after updating her bio to include her job as an escort.

“I’ve had Tinder for about four or five years on-and-off,” she told BuzzFeed News. “I’ve been escorting as my full-time job, my main source of income anyway, for about eight or nine months. I changed my bio to put that was my job because I want to weed out people who wouldn’t want to date me because of my job — a lot of insecure men feel like they can’t date an escort.”

On her profile, Clementine made clear that she was not looking for clients on the app, but her account was still shut down.

“I tried to log in and got an error message of numbers,” she said. “I looked it up on the internet and found it’s the error message you get if you’ve violated the terms of use.”

Clementine read the terms and conditions, which said soliciting was banned, but she said: “I clearly wasn’t soliciting.”

After she contacted Tinder she received an email back which said she had violated the website’s terms — but despite going back to the company for further clarification, she received only stock responses, which said she would not be able to open another Tinder account.

Clementine said she thinks Tinder may be shutting down sex worker profiles to avoid falling foul of Trump’s SESTA/FOSTA legislation.

In April, President Donald Trump signed a bill made from a combination of the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, or SESTA, and the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, known as FOSTA, which gave law enforcement officials sweeping new powers to go after internet platforms used by traffickers, including making those platforms liable for the content that users publish — with sex workers reporting devastating consequences.



“They’re an American company and they can be prosecuted because of the anti-trafficking law – clearly I’m [not] being trafficked,” Clementine said. “It’s bullshit.”

“Maybe Tinder is just scared,” she added, “but it’s applied that to my whole profession. If I was a yoga teacher saying I wasn’t looking for yoga clients they would have let me say that.”

Tinder declined to answer BuzzFeed News’ questions on these users’ account and whether they had been kicked off the app due to this legislation. Instead, the company pointed to its community guidelines, which prohibit “promoting or advocating for commercial sexual services, human trafficking or other non-consensual sexual acts”.

Clementine told BuzzFeed News that she is a “very privileged” sex worker, and so wanted to speak up on behalf of those sex workers who regularly experience discrimination and who did not feel able to fight the ban.

“I’m used to getting what I want in my life,” she said. “They’re used to it, but because of my demographic I’m more entitled, so instead of feeling defeated, I’m angry. That’s why I’m fighting.

“I’ve started to feel like I can make a difference, and I’m willing to deal with the consequences.”

“Sex workers should be able to have a normal dating life like everyone else does,” she added. “The idea that sex with a client is in any way similar to sex with someone you’re in a relationship with is false. This is my job, I put on a show, but it’s my job.

“You put your body in danger in the military or if you’re a miner — why is there a stigma around the idea of sex? People think that they own their partner’s body and that needs to end.”

Several other sex workers on Twitter complained they had too seen their Tinder accounts shut down.