Despite Anti-Gay Propaganda, Grindr Use Is Exploding In Sochi

The number of users on the app have more than tripled since the start of the games.

Grindr, the social dating and hook-up app for gay men, now has 541 active users in the Russian beach town, according to a Grindr spokesperson who spoke to Vocativ.

Before the arrival of the athletes, Sochi only had 185 active users.

The total number of users in all of Russia is about 55,000.

According to Vocativ,

The Grindr spike could also be attributed to the fact that the Russian version of the app, Hunters, was recently hacked and shut down. According to Hunters CEO Dimitry T. users of the app logged in on Feb. 3 only to see this threatening message: "You will be arrested and jailed for gay propaganda in Sochi according to Russian Federal Law #135 Sektion 6," which refers to the law banning the dissemination of "homosexual propaganda" to minors. (Whoever is responsible for the message got it slightly wrong: The relevant section is 5, not 6.)

You can read more about Grindr usage in Sochi here.