Undercover journalism is a dying art, requiring reporters to attempt the infiltration of a particular community by posing as someone they’re not. It’s previously been used to expose criminals, to catch drug smugglers, and stop child abuse. You know, important stuff.

Hunter S. Thompson used it while reporting on motorcycle gang Hells Angels and Elizabeth Jane Cochran used it to report cruelty and neglect in an insane asylum.

In his article, originally titledI Got Three Grindr Dates In One Hour At Rio,Hines pretended to be a gay man on the hook-up app Grindr – and reported his findings. Which were, somewhat unsurprisingly, that gay men do in fact occasionally hook-up. Riveting. Here’s the problem, though. Some of the guys he described in his article were identifiable and from countries where LGBTI people still face daily abuse, discrimination and imprisonment. A gross invasion of privacy, the article offered readers clear hints at athletes’ heights, weights, and other physical features – and even shared their respective placements in competition.The majority of this generation’s teenagers are now rejecting typical gender and sexual norms. Post continues below…

Though Hines claims he “confessed to being a journalist as soon as anyone asked who [he] was,” he certainly wasn’t up-front about being a straight dude looking for a cheap scoop – and having been an active user of Grindr for years myself; I can attest to the fact that it’s not exactly a who-are-you/get-to-know you kind of app.

The note concluded that the article was not intended “to do harm or degrade members of the LGBT community, but intent doesn’t matter, impact does.”