Bumble to Ban Users Who Body-Shame on the App
Contributed by: kellyseal on Monday, February 22 2021 @ 07:15 am
Last modified on Wednesday, February 24 2021 @ 09:34 am
Female-forward dating app Bumble said it will ban users who engage in body-shaming on the app.
The company said that it’s employing an algorithm that identifies and flags users engaging in derogatory language that is “fatphobic, racist, or homophobic,” according to The Guardian[*1] . Once these accounts are flagged, moderators will analyze the conversation to determine whether the user violated the new policy. If they are determined to have used inappropriate language, they will receive a warning, and if they engaged repeatedly in such language or hateful rhetoric, they will be banned.
Naomi Walkland, Bumble’s head of UK and Ireland told The Guardian that the company wanted to create “a kinder, more respectful and more equal space on the internet. Key to this has always been our zero-tolerance policy for racist and hate-driven speech, abusive behavior and harassment.”
According to The Guardian, body-shaming is a huge problem in the U.K. Bumble recently conducted a survey of 1,003 U.K. residents and found that 23% of participants had been body-shamed on a dating app or social media. Thirty-five percent of participants said that body shaming made them feel self-conscious, 33% felt insecure, and another 25% felt angry after their experience of it. Generally speaking, 54% said they felt worse after spending an extended period of time online.
Bumble is known as a fierce advocate for women on all of its online platforms, and this move is in line with its mission to create a safer space for people to engage. Before the pandemic, the company had set up Bumble-verified spaces in major cities in the U.S. where matches could meet each other in person, so that women could feel safer going on dates. According to a 2016 Consumers’ Research survey, more than half of women said they’d experienced harassment on dating apps compared to only 20% of men.
Bumble also introduced a feature that detects and blurs unsolicited nude photos, in light of women getting bombarded on dating apps with so-called “dick pics.” The recipient can now choose to view, delete, or report the blurred image.
But Bumble’s decisions haven’t always gone over well with its users. The company has come under fire recently for its ban on indoor photos of users posing in swimsuits and bras, as well as prohibiting shirtless bathroom selfies. While the company banned these types of pictures in 2016, it is reviewing the policy now after users complained that the same pictures, if taken outdoors, were just fine to post.