Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe was attacked for banning guns on the dating app

Whitney Wolfe, the founder and CEO of the popular dating app Bumble became a target for threats after her decision to ban gun imagery and content from people’s dating profiles

Words by Katherine Benson

Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe has revealed that she and her staff have been targeted with death threats after the company made the decision to ban gun imagery from users' profiles. During a panel at Cannes, Wolfe spoke about how the move ‘pissed a lot of people off’ and had led to a series of death threats and harassment campaigns'.

She told the audience. ‘I was getting emails saying “I’m gonna show my Glock and my you know what [genitals]," with literally a picture of the Glock and the other thing’. The stream of distressing emails, described by Wolfe as containing threats such as, ‘We’re coming for you, we know where your office is’, has forced her to have police at the company headquarters for several weeks.

The decision to ban gun imagery on Bumble came after February's devastating mass shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. This was the 31st mass shooting of 2018 in the US, a figure which, according to records from Gun Violence Archive, has since risen to 101.

However, despite these distressing statistics, Wolfe explained how the decision created strife even within the company. She revealed, ‘We have a lot of people on our team that are responsible gun owners. I’m from Texas… Our brand values are equality, empowerment, kindness and accountability. Do guns fit that bill? No.’

Wolfe stands by her decision and has since donated $100,000 to the pro-gun control group March For Our Lives, adding: ‘As mass shootings continue to devastate communities across the country, it’s time to state unequivocally that gun violence is not in line with our values, nor do these weapons belong on Bumble.’