People urge caution on new dating app Goose as INSANE terms and conditions emerge

Dating app Goose has become the talk of the town this past week, but not everyone is on board with the new “anti-hookup” platform.

“Goose is the gay app, not just for dating. Meet guys through the life you already have: places, friends, interests, stories, and what’s happening nearby,” its website explains.

It’s mega-hot founder, Derek Chadwick, who I struggle to believe is having difficulties dating, wanted to provide a “lifestyle platform” for the gay community that wasn’t purely about finding a twink – we’re looking at you, Grindr. The payoff hasn’t exactly been a resounding success. Though financially, the app is booming, rising to number four on the Apple chart, people are still using it for hookups.

Then some of the terms and conditions went viral, and it all kicked off.

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A post shared by Goose (@goose)

What’s so ‘insane’ about Goose’s terms and conditions

Every app comes with pages and pages of terms and conditions that most of us completely ignore. It’s a bad habit, we know, but you should definitely be aware of Goose’s before downloading.

Goose’s terms and conditions are available both on the app and on its website, but there’s one particular section you should read: The Member Content License and Waiver. Simply put, it’s very aggressive.

It reads: “By submitting Member Content to the Services, you grant Goose a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, transferable, and sub-licensable license to host, store, use, display, reproduce, adapt, modify, and distribute your content strictly for the purpose of operating, developing, maintaining, and providing the Services to you and other members.

"Non-hookup" oh I'm sure https://t.co/Jodg7Zywd0 pic.twitter.com/ywOcKrvedN

— derek 🤠 (@derek553) June 30, 2026

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“For the avoidance of doubt, the rights, licenses and privileges described in this Member Agreement and granted to Goose will commence immediately upon submission of your Member Content and will continue thereafter perpetually and indefinitely with respect to the derivative works and data derived from your content (including to train our safety and anti-spam models, and develop safety guidelines), whereas the license to the original Member Content you published will end upon the termination of these Terms, subject to the terms of our Privacy Policy.”

Later in the same section, Goose stipulates that “you further grant to Goose and any other third party a worldwide, fully transferable (including sub-licensable) and royalty-free license to use your user name, image, voice, and likeness (including virtual likeness) in connection with permitted uses of your Member Content.”

By signing, you “waive any and all rights of privacy, publicity, or any other rights of a similar nature in connection with your Member Content, or any part thereof.”

People are concerned

Okay so i did do a bit of a deep dive here because 1) it’s fair to point out that similar dating/hookup apps like Grindr and Hinge have similar policies and 2) as someone working on my own app I’m gonna have to write my own privacy policy and TOS. Here’s what I found:

— alxndr (@alexaldente) June 28, 2026

That part of the terms and conditions went super viral on Twitter after one man wrote on Instagram: “Hey @goose, so this is an insane privacy concern. For everyone else using the app, this means Goose can do whatever they want with any photos/data you upload to the app. Yes that includes the disappearing ones.”

His statement was shared on Twitter, amassing half a million views as people discussed it in the comments. People rightly pointed out that most dating apps have similar terms and conditions.

“The language in this screenshot feels very aggressive, but it is very similar to terms on other apps. Grindr and Hinge also use your data to improve their apps and UX. That said, Goose is 100% more aggressive in a few parts of its TOS/PP,” the OG poster noted.

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Featured image credit: Goose/Instagram