Contributed by: kellyseal on Friday, June 13 2025 @ 02:09 pm
Last modified on Friday, June 13 2025 @ 02:16 pm
Bumble appears to be matching its users with people they have already blocked, according to a report from Rolling Stone.
The app has come under fire after this practice came to light over social media. According to Rolling Stone[*1] , professor Jennie Young at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, who specializes in rhetoric and gender studies, shared a post on Instagram with a screenshot from Bumble’s support center after asking them why she was matching with users she previously blocked.
“Bumble will show you people you have swiped left/blocked on in the past — in case you have changed your mind,” the screenshot captured of Bumble's response.
“This is patriarchal, predatory, and disrespectful of women,” Young wrote in the post. “We are capable of deciding on our own what we want (and who we don’t).”
The post went viral and received a lot of comments, including one woman who said: “NO MEANS NO” and others who threatened to leave dating apps altogether. In fact, Young’s followers began to bombard Bumble’s support line according to Rolling Stone, demanding to know whether blocking would remove someone’s profile from their match pool.
The backlash was enough to capture Bumble’s attention. The company said the problem could be users who were working around blocks, like those who created new accounts, or deleted their old one and then recreated a new profile.
As Rolling Stone points out, Bumble’s own user guide reads that there are “no automatic punishments or ‘shadow bans’ for deleting and recreating your Bumble profile.”
When another user logged out and logged in to her account again, she told Bumble that all of the accounts she had blocked appeared again in her matches, and Bumble this time had a new response: “I would like to clarify that you should not be seeing someone you have previously hidden or blocked, and the information shared with you previously was inaccurate.”
Other Bumble support conversations advised users to: “Switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data,” “Update the app to the latest version,” “Temporarily disable VPN, antivirus, or security software,” and “Force close the app and reopen it,” according to Rolling Stone.
Bumble released this statement from a spokesperson in response to the backlash: “We want to make it clear to our community that Bumble does not recycle blocked or hidden profiles. The safety and well-being of our community is our top priority, so once a member is blocked or hidden, they will no longer appear to you, and you will no longer appear to them.”
The statement continued, “If a previously blocked member appears again, it is likely due to this member creating a new profile. We have measures in place to prevent this behavior, and we are continuously evolving and strengthening our moderation methods to protect our members. If our community sees someone they have previously blocked, we advise that they block and report the new profile so our team can swiftly investigate and take the appropriate action.”