ABSTRACT
Gay sexual networking apps are emerging as significant new players in the sphere of HIV prevention, biopolitical devices whose technical affordances are valued and repurposed to reveal new capacities for HIV prevention. In 2012, Hornet teamed up with a Philippine non-profit organization to deliver HIV testing promotion messages to 94,000 users, with links for online registration, reportedly prompting 4300 users to take the test. The app Jack'd ran a similar campaign in Taiwan, reporting that 30,000 users clicked through to their HIV message. As these examples suggest, these devices are more than a simple platform for health communication; they can get people to do things (in this case, undertake testing for a serious, stigmatized disease). The performative potential of these devices makes them available for biopolitical investment: their ability to connect members of at-risk populations with diagnostic services and clinical care proposes to improve the prospects of HIV prevention in the biomedical era through specific new technological affordances.
