Bumble, the popular dating app, is being sued (again) for discrimination. The case, brought by Zimmerman Reed, alleges that Bumble’s policy of requiring only women to make the first move on the app discriminates against men, transgender men, or nonbinary people.
The law firm claims that the app is in violation of California’s Civil Rights Act, which prohibits business from arbitrarily treating people differently based on their sex, gender, or sexual orientation. Bumble, it says, “prohibits all Black, White, Latino, Asian, Native, and Pacific Islander men, as well as Transgender men, and Nonbinary people from initiating messages to women they match with.”
If proven, the violation has a statutory damages award of up to $4,000.
Bumble, which is founded and run by Whitney Wolfe Herd, is the first dating app to only allow women to message their matches first. This policy was designed to create a more positive and safe experience for women. The very point of the app is that with it, women get to make the first move. It’s their tagline.
While Zimmerman Reed’s approach is novel with the virtue signaling move to tout that it discriminates against people of color, transgender men, and people who identify as nonbinary, this isn’t the first time that Bumble has been accused of discrimination. In 2022, the company settled a California-based discrimination lawsuit for $3 million, without admitting any wrongdoing.
That suit claimed that Bumble was in violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act which “prohibits businesses from engaging in unreasonable, arbitrary, or invidious discrimination.”
It was filed by a group of men, led by someone named Kirilose Mansour, who alleged that Bumble’s policy of allowing only women to make the first move on the app discriminated against them — there were so many that they only received payouts of $71.68 each, as of June 9, 2022, and 20 super swipes.
Users have said that it’s because of men like Mansour that the app was created.
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