Sniffies’ Users Worry About a ‘Straightification’ of the Gay Hookup App
Key takeaways
- Tinder and Hinge parent company Match Group announced on Monday an investment of $100 million into Sniffies.
- Spencer Rascoff, who became CEO of Match Group in 2025, previously served on the board of Palantir, the defense tech and data mining company that has become a “technological backbone” of the Trump administration.
- Sniffies maintains that it will continue to own and control how its user data is stored, handled, and protected.
Why this matters: a development in AI with implications for how people work, create, and decide.
Photo-Illustration: WIRED Staff; Getty Images Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Comment Loader Save Story Save this story Of all the gay hookup apps Brennan Zubrick uses, Sniffies, a cruising app for men interested in discreet sex-positive casual encounters with other men, is by far his favorite. Some of the most popular kinks among members on the platform include edging, cum play, and BDSM. “I overwhelmingly prefer the experience I get and the community I can access,” he tells WIRED. But Zubrick, who is 40 and based in Washington DC, has a bad feeling that could soon change.
Tinder and Hinge parent company Match Group announced on Monday an investment of $100 million into Sniffies. The deal gives Match Group a large minority share and the choice to become the sole owner later on. The announcement has set off an intense firestorm of reactions from users who are second-guessing the direction of the company, and the longterm sustainability of the app.
“Sniffies has long held its market position as the little guy, catering to a specific section of the gay community and is somewhere people who might not be comfortable with Grindr—where no face-pic, no-chat culture runs rampant—go to connect with other like-minded people in a more direct and discreet way,” Zubrick tells WIRED.