Tinder safety features target fake profiles, gross chats, bad situations
Folks who like to swipe their way to a date will have access to new safety features in 2020, says Tinder.
- She has a master's degree in journalism from Syracuse University.
That blue check mark is supposed to let you know that Jeanette is Jeanette.
Tinder is introducing an assortment of new features to keep online daters safer, the company said in a Thursday blog post.
Among the features is photo verification. App users who submit a series of posed selfies in real-time to Tinder will get a blue check mark on their profile, signifying they're really who they say they are. Tinder says it's testing the feature in certain markets before making it widely available sometime in 2020.
Tinder is also partnering with Noonlight, a service that'll let daters document information such as who they're meeting, when and where. The service lets users "easily and discreetly trigger emergency services" if need be, Tinder said.
Tinder is getting a Safety Center too, which'll "keep members informed about these features while providing resources and tools" and will eventually be both localized and personalized for daters, Tinder said.
Users in select markets will also begin seeing AI-generated prompts in their chats. If someone receives a potentially offensive chat message, a prompt asks, "Does this bother you?" In some cases, people sending messages will be asked if they'd like to rethink their decision before sending a particular note.
In the blog post, Tinder said the features will be turning up across Match Group's other dating apps, as well (Match Group is Tinder's parent company).
The news comes after a December 2019 probe by ProPublica and Columbia Journalism Investigations found that of Match Group's slate of apps, only the Match service runs background checks on users. Match Group refuted the report.