Dating Apps Face Investigation by US House of Representatives Over Safety Issues

A committee from the U.S. House of Representatives is investigating popular dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble and OkCupid following a report that found underage users and sex offenders were using the apps.

According to a report from AP, the House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on economic and consumer policy sent separate letters on Thursday January 30th to Bumble, Grindr, The Meet Group, and Match Group (which owns Tinder and OkCupid among others). The letters asked for information on “users’ ages, procedures for verifying ages, and any complaints about assaults, rape or the use of the services by minors,” according to AP.

The subcommittee is also seeking additional information on privacy policies for each of the apps, and what users see when they are asked to review or accept such policies. Recently, dating apps have also come under fire for third-party sharing of personal data, where user information wouldn’t be protected by the dating app’s own privacy policy.

A recent report by the Norwegian Consumer Council found that most dating apps don’t conduct background checks on their users, so registered sex offenders and underage users had access to the apps without other user’s knowledge. Notably, background checks were conducted for paying users on Match Group’s Tinder, but not on the free version of the app. In addition, the report found that these apps were collecting sensitive information like sexual orientation, location, gender identity, and drug and alcohol use and leaking it to third party advertisers, a violation of European data privacy laws.

“Our concern about the underage use of dating apps is heightened by reports that many popular free dating apps permit registered sex offenders to use them, while the paid versions of these same apps screen out registered sex offenders,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the subcommittee head, said in a statement. “Protection from sexual predators should not be a luxury confined to paying customers.”

Match Group recently launched a new suite of safety features on Tinder to address safety concerns, including installing a “panic button” where a user can discreetly let Match Group’s security partner Noonlight know their location and their date’s identity, and get an emergency response team if needed. Other features include AI technology to verify profiles and the ability to block messages that include inflammatory language. Match Group will be rolling them out this year across its suite of apps.

Match Group parent company IAC also maintained that it shares information with third parties only when it is “deemed necessary to operate its platform” with third party apps. IAC also said its practice is in line with European and US laws, though the Norwegian report seemed to contradict this assertion.