Is Goose, the Grindr alternative, using fake AI-generated dates to lure gay men?

This story originally appeared on The Advocate.

Is a new dating app marketed as an alternative to Grindr tricking gay men with fake potential dates? According to Wired, the answer is yes.

An investigation by WIRED found that many of the faces used to promote Goose were linked to low-usage accounts with abnormal follower-to-following ratios. Moreover, some appeared to be connected to Instagram accounts likely generated by artificial intelligence.

The Advocate’s sibling publication, Out, previously reported that Goose was created by out gay model, actor, and beauty entrepreneur Derek Chadwick and pitched as a social-first, “anti-algorithm” alternative to Grindr, Sniffies, and other hookup-focused apps. Instead of swiping, Goose lets users “wave” at one another; if both people wave, they are connected. The app also promised a curated community, a live map, profile updates, disappearing chats, and screenshot protection.

WIRED found an account tied to Goose co-founder David Aliagas advertising “ambassador” positions on Instagram and offering money for “finstas,” or fake Instagram accounts. Reporters at WIRED also spoke to several gay men who interacted through Instagram with apparently AI-generated accounts that encouraged them to sign up for Goose.

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For example, Ryan Cheam says he communicated with an account named @alistaircrombbie. “I thought he was just a normal gay guy,” Cheam told the outlet. But then the account encouraged him to join a “curated network of guys” on Goose. That Instagram account is no longer publicly viewable.

Goose has been marketed as a less hookup-focused alternative to dating apps. “Goose replaces matching with a simple wave. If two people wave at each other, they’re connected. It’s lighter, more natural, and removes pressure from the start,” reads an official description on Google Play.

WIRED, in its headline, calls the app an apparent “psyop,” a term typically used to describe misinformation campaigns intended to manipulate emotions. If so, it’s one that helped Goose climb to No. 4 among Lifestyle apps downloaded on Apple’s App Store at one point, though it currently sits at a more modest No. 66.

At the time of review, the app had 392 reviews on the App Store and an average rating of 4.5 stars out of 5, though many of those read like marketing material.

“Finally we can get something different than all the other dating apps out there. This is much more than a dating app,” reads a top review.

Several people told WIRED about new Instagram accounts reaching out directly and recruiting people to sign up for Goose. All of the accounts identified in the report have since been deactivated or set to private and can no longer be publicly viewed.

While the use of AI-generated avatars has become increasingly common in modern marketing, the deceptive practice takes on new ramifications when the primary product being marketed is a network of potential romantic matches that may actually be fake accounts. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has guidelines prohibiting the use of AI-generated accounts to impersonate real people, and some states issue fines for such unethical business behavior.