Who the fuck thought up having a manically depressed loaf of bread as a kid’s TV character?

This guy.

Just dropping it here, although I am 95 % sure, that question was rhetorical.

Nein! Doch! Ooh!

My guess would be, the same strategies, every repressed community would use since ever.
As for why governments don’t use net logs, my assumption is, that those are not what they are after. Meeting might not be illegal, just same sex acts which are needed too be “caught in the act”.

1. I’ve read an article long time ago from an expat in, I think Saudi Arabia, in which he described how he tested grindr and got a match. When meeting with them, he got a bad feeling and stepped back.
2. There’s a a (sci-fi) novel with that premise, called “ABC Zhang”. It basically used the points, what others have told here: Mostly secret signs, that those who know, know.