Swiping left is not neutral: a systematic review of intra-community violence on LGBTIQ+ dating and geosocial networking platforms

Although the search covered broader LGBTIQ+ digital environments, eligible evidence concentrated on dating and geosocial networking platforms, which is the empirical focus of this review. Often framed as safe spaces, these platforms reproduce intra-community violence, sexual racism, fem(me)phobia, and bodily control. Following PRISMA 2020, searches across seven databases (WOS, Scopus, PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, SciELO, LILACS, and Redalyc) covered 2002–2025. We identified 528 records and analysed 82 studies through thematic synthesis, generating five propositions: racialised hierarchies, devaluation of femininity, bodily normativity, sociotechnical architectures, and circuits of stigma and resistance. Sexual racism was the most consistently documented violence. Evidence concentrated in the United States, with gaps in Latin America, Africa, and Asia; Grindr was among the most frequently studied applications. Platforms structure violence as technologies of power that produce the hierarchies they appear merely to reflect, requiring multilevel interventions.