A campaign seeking to crowdfund a new app has been shut down on Kickstarter. Called Adoptly, the social app has been described as the "Tinder for adoption." It features the same process of swiping left or right when would-be parents find a child who matches their preference.
The Verge reports that Kickstarter did not divulge why Adoptly's campaign was halted. The news outlet further cites Kickstarter only pointed to the possible violations, as stated in its FAQ.
Even before the cancellation, Adoptly has been deemed as a dubious campaign by netizens. Engadget reports that some people find the app illegal, fake and repulsive.
Adoptly's slogan on its official site, which states that "Parenthood is just a swipe away," has also been called distasteful. Online adoption sites, however, have almost the same process since there usually is an online database containing profiles of the parents or children. The difference is the app has its own swipe feature.
Adoptly's co-founder Alex Nawrocki defends the app idea is not bogus and that the swiping system has been patterned after popular apps like Tinder because their targets are millennial parents. "Our thinking is that it's important to take technologies that keep tempo with them, and the swipe is something that group is particularly familiar with," Nawrocki told The Verge in a separate report.
"The adoption industry at large is a little bit underserved by the tech industry," Nawrocki further said. "We saw this unique opportunity to disrupt it, particularly when you're talking about online adoption."
Tinder is not the lone app to use the swipe system as there's BarkBuddy, a pet adoption app. Something about matching children to parents in this manner, however, doesn't translate right to those criticizing the idea.
Nawrocki and his team of four planned to develop the app in San Francisco but they have yet to start with the programming, thus the Kickstarter funding. The campaign, which was launched in early January, aimed to raise $150,000. Before Kickstarter pulled the plug it was only able to raise $4,000 from 16 contributors.
