The first reviews of the recently launched, self-branded “conservative dating app”, The right stuff are in. And things are not looking so good for the company financed by Peter Thiel. Out of the 197 reviews currently posted on the iOS store, nearly 60 give the app a one-star rating.
Some common complaints from reviewers are that the app lacks women, that the invite-only system makes it impossible to actually join, and that there is a profile prompt to answer around January 6th led to contact by law enforcement agencies.
“App asks about January 6th…I said I was there because I’m a patriot…I get a call from an FBI agent SAME DAY????” reads a review by a user under the names “Big Chungus”. Another claims that after creating a Right Stuff profile, police officers showed up at the user’s home and claimed he was “involved in domestic terrorism.”
In a milder complaint, one user claims that “all the women here have been replaced with pasty middle-aged white men.” A problem that the company seemingly wanted to forestall in its advertising by highlighting a 100% very real and authentic “group of conservative young women”.
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To be fair, many of these app store reviews are blatant trolls, and there’s no evidence that the FBI or any police actually contacted Right Stuff users. In addition, many of the statements about the alleged lack of women are camouflaged in thick homophobia.
But what’s true is that the app actually prompts users to respond to an open-ended January 6th prompt — you know, to add a little spice to the profile. Gizmodo verified that the question appears in the profile creation phase when setting up an account. And it’s very easy to imagine how people are present that day the Capitol Uprising Enter self-displaying information in this blank white field.
Parler, a more prominent right-wing social media platform, actually did Send evidence and user information to the FBI in advance of the January 6 attack on the Capitol (although the FBI apparently ignored those warnings). So there is precedent for this kind of thing.
But in response to Gizmodo’s questions about the app and the published reviews, the FBI’s National Press Office simply emailed, “We have no comment on your request.” The agency also referred Gizmodo to the DC District Attorney’s office, where there was a are a website Documenting the ongoing investigations and arrests related to the January 6, 2021 uprising.
A Right Stuff spokesperson said in an email to Gizmodo, “The allegations that users were contacted by the FBI or that we passed information to law enforcement are completely false.”
When asked why the app is specifically asking users to talk about January 6th, the company wrote, “Our prompts are used as fun conversation starters where users can share their personality through their opinions.”
Finally, addressing some of the more serious-seeming common complaints, the Right Stuff spokesperson told Gizmodo, “The app is invite-only to ensure a quality community of conservative users.”
