Uh oh! Scruff app has banned jockstrap, underwear photos

After Scruff (a gay dating app for men) was suspended from Google Play multiple times, it has now decided to ban all primary photos of men wearing “jockstraps, underwear, or bikini-style swimwear.”

In a recent blog post on their website, Scruff responded to the new policy, saying, “Today most software is distributed via app stores, and consequently app content policies are a direct extension of app store content policies.”

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They also mention that the app was removed earlier this year and emphasized that, had it remained unavailable, “it would have been devastating to our company and our community.”

In a statement to BBC News, Scruff’s CEO, Eric Silverberg, emphasized that the challenges their app, and others like it face, “is the fact that different app stores publish guidelines with varying degrees of specificity.”

Many users haven’t taken too kindly to the change in policy, with vlogger Amp Somers (who runs sex education YouTube channel Watts The Safeword) pointing out that Craigslist, Backpage, and Tumblr have all recently implemented new guidelines on adult content. “…a gay dating app you have to be of consenting age to use, is now censoring how its users can post photos?” Somers added. “This isn’t looking so good guys.”

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