Angry Users Are DELETING HQ Trivia Over This Controversial Investor

5 February 2018, 12:38

By Katie Louise-Smith

@_katesss

The truth about where the funding from the trivia app comes from has pissed off a lot of people.

If you haven't played at least one game of the internet's favourite quiz show, HQ Trivia, then you're missing out. Presented by the iconic Scott Rogowsky, the game goes live a few times a day where almost one million people tune in to try and win real life money in a 12-question quiz. (If you're in the UK, the show is presented by Sharon Carpenter, and the pool of players is much much smaller.)

But now, people are threatening to delete the HQ Trivia app after news that its huge new $15 million investment is coming out of the pocket of someone problematic.

It was announced last week that Trump-supporting (and funding) billionaire Peter Thiel would be funding the app through his Founders Fund company. He's also the man who used his money and power to shut down Gawker and once wrote women's right to vote was bad for democracy. Now, many players no longer want to support the app knowing that the money they might win during a game would be coming out of his pocket.

Soon after the news broke, fans of the app took to Twitter to announce that they were deleting the app with the hashtag #DeleteHQ.

It's also been reported that the app had trouble securing investors after founder Colin Kroll's alleged behaviour toward women in the workplace and how he managed people while he worked at Twitter. No complaints were ever submitted against Kroll.

But many people who have criticised the app's decision to use Thiel as an investor should probably take into account that Thiel's Founder Fund also invests in a bunch of other things too... Facebook, Paypal, Spotify, Lyft and AirBnb to name a few.

Are you really going to delete Facebook and Spotify too, knowing that Thiel's company is an investor? No, of course you're not. And let's face it, this news isn't going to dent HQ Trivia's immense popularity. There was over 1.5m players online during the $20,000 game during the Superbowl half-time show. The only thing that's gonna kill HQ Trivia is sites like HQuack, where you can cheat your way to the cash prize.

But if you're still reaaaaally pressed with this piece of information, at least you can play the quiz, win the money and donate it to nice liberal organisation in his name. Or go out and enjoy lovely liberal things with your lovely liberal friends and support the free-press with the money you just won from Thiel's pocket. Stay petty. Stay savage.