He told the paper that the government would consider new legislation requiring porn to use age verification technology to stop those below 18 from using dating apps from April. Responding to The Sunday Times‘ investigation, culture secretary Jeremy Wright said the findings were “truly shocking” and provided “yet more evidence that online tech firms must do more to protect children.” Gay hook-up app Grindr. “We encourage users to report improper or illegal behaviour either within the app or directly via email to addition, our team is constantly working to improve our digital and human screening tools to prevent and remove improper underage use of our app.” “Grindr is committed to creating a safe and secure environment to help our community connect and thrive, and any account of sexual abuse or other illegal behaviour is troubling to us as well as a clear violation of our terms of service,” the spokesperson said.
Culture secretary says sexual abuse of children on apps like Tinder and Grindr is “shocking”Ī Grindr spokesperson told PinkNews that it is “saddened” by The Sunday Times’ investigation and that the dating app was taking steps to remove underage users. Taiwan is the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex unions.The paper received FOI responses from 10 out of the UK’s 46 police forces. In contrast to the lashings - Taiwan legalised same-sex marriage on May 24 in a landmark court ruling. Indonesia's reputation for practicing a moderate form of Islam has been battered in the past year due to attacks on religious minorities, a surge in persecution of gays and a polarizing election campaign for governor of Jakarta that highlighted the growing strength of hard-line Islamic groups.Įarlier this month, the outgoing Jakarta governor, a minority Christian, was sentenced to two years in prison for campaign comments deemed as blaspheming the Quran. More than 300 people were caned for such offenses in 2016. It does not change the reality that flogging is a grotesque display of medieval torture," said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.Ĭaning is also a punishment in Aceh for gambling, drinking alcohol, women who wear tight clothes and men who skip Friday prayers. "The court's less-than-maximum sentence of 85 lashes is no act of compassion. The maximum possible sentence was 100 strokes of the cane and prosecutors had asked for 80. On Monday, 141 men were detained in a police raid on a gay sauna in Jakarta, the capital. Prejudice has been fanned by stridently anti-gay comments from politicians and Islamic hard-liners, and a case before the country's top court is seeking to criminalise gay sex and sex outside marriage.
With the exception of Aceh, homosexuality is not illegal in Indonesia, but the country's low-profile LGBT community has been under siege in the past year.
The Islamic Defenders Front, a hard-line group known for acts of vigilante violence throughout Indonesia, erected a banner at the mosque that declared the group was ready to defend Shariah law whatever the cost.
Four heterosexual couples also were caned on Tuesday, receiving a far lesser number of strokes for affection outside marriage.īanda Aceh resident Ibrahim Muhayat said far more people attended the publicly meted-out punishment than usual because like him, many wanted to witness Indonesia's first-ever caning of gay men. A Shariah court last week sentenced each man to 85 strokes, but they were caned 83 times after a remission for time spent in prison.