The most famous dating app in the world wants to put women’s safety at the center of its policies: a partnership with No More that focuses on educating users and workers.
The world’s most popular online dating app wants to put an end to domestic violence and sexual assaults: through a partnership with No More, the awareness campaign that strives to reach the goal of zero gender violence, Tinder wants to that women feel safe using the app and arranging blind dates without risking meeting dangerous people.
Meeting people you know online is dangerous, don’t go on a date!” How many times have Tinder users heard this? Dating app has always been viewed with suspicion and prejudice: online, you can also have unwanted, even dangerous, encounters. As such, keeping women safe is now “at the heart” of the most popular dating app in the world. The tech company is launching a partnership with the campaign group No More, intending to end domestic violence.
The CEO of the company, Renate Nyborg, the first woman to take up the position, explained to the BBC that “like any woman, I can count all the experiences that I have had and that perhaps I would not have wanted to have, starting with the way I what they talk to you about, the way you are treated at work, the things that can happen to you when you go out with someone. ” Nyborg, 36, has increased the number of women working on Tinder’s product team by 30% since she became CEO of the company in September 2021.
The partnership’s goal is to produce a program within the application to educate members about safe and adequate dating, but not only: No More will also provide training for Tinder staff. Because explains the global executive director of No More Pamela Zaballa to the BBC, the security of online dating comes, first and foremost, from proper training: “I think it is very important for Tinder to make sure to educate its users, not just warning them of behaviors. Incorrect. Safety, in general, should be a top priority for Tinder, not just for women, but anyone who uses the app ».
According to Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, which since 2005 has brought together feminist organizations and experts from across the UK to end violence against women in all its forms, ‘dating apps are a very popular way to meet, but the perpetrators are exploiting this aspect to find their potential victims, with a consequent increase in rape among users ». According to data from the British police agency National Crime Agency, the number of women aged 19 and younger who are victims of sexual assaults related to online dating has grown since 2016.
But online dating apps have no legal obligation of diligence towards their users, which is why No More has asked the British government to consider the violence women and girls face in the online safety bill. But it is necessary to wait until the autumn when the government will elect the new prime minister, and the legislative process can resume its course.
These Tinder features are a “small step in encouraging reports of harassment, but they don’t go far enough to address abuse such as rape threats,” Simon pointed out. “Tech companies like this ultimately profit from a business model that ignores the abuses facilitated by its services. It is essential that they are held accountable to ensure the safety of users ».
The latest security services launched by the app in 2021 include reports from Tinder which, when it detects offensive and malicious messages, asks the sender, “Are you sure?” and the recipient, “Does it bother you?”. This has increased users reporting messages they may not like by 50%, and inappropriate messages have been reduced by 10%, Nyborg’s CEO reports.
In the United States, the security center offers background checks on the match, that is, that mutual affinity expressed through a double click, which corresponds to a like, through a partnership with the non-profit organization Garbo, which allows you to identify ex-harassers and, in countries that allow it, verify the identity of users.
But there are also some tricks, recommended by the “professionally trained dating coach” Alexis Germany, to consider when going out with an unknown person: meet in a public space, do not get picked up, do not provide personal information such as an address, let someone know where you are going, activate the geolocation services on their phone. And have a good blind date!