Tinder Launches Background Checks with Security Partner Garbo 

Tinder announced this week that it has added background checks to its features, thanks to its ongoing partnership with security company Garbo.

Starting now in the U.S., Garbo’s new online background check platform will be available to the general public and launched to Tinder members via the app’s Safety Center. The new service allows easy access to public information about a potential match’s history of violent or harmful behavior, including arrests, convictions, and sex offender registry records.  

According to the company's press release,  Tinder users can tap on a blue safety shield from anywhere in the app to be taken to the Safety Center. From there, they can tap on the Garbo article to be redirected to Garbo’s website where they can provide information about their match – typically only a first name and phone number. If Garbo needs more information, they’ll ask, which may include age.

Once Garbo produces the results, if a history of violence is found, the user requesting the information is encouraged to report it to Tinder. There is a crisis text line in Tinder’s Safety Center where users can report any findings or abuse as well.

Each search on Garbo costs a user $2.50 plus a “small processing fee” according to Tinder’s press release. Tinder will also be offering two free background check searches to each user at launch for the first 500,000 requests. All costs will go to Garbo to fund the non-profit’s operations associated with record searches.

In its press release, Tinder pointed out that this is the “first-of-its-kind partnership” for the dating industry. 

Garbo founder Kathryn Kosmides said in the announcement: “We know that the biggest indicator of future abuse or violence is a history of these types of behaviors. Whether it’s online dating or the dozens of other ways we meet strangers in today’s digital age, we should know if we’re potentially putting our safety at risk.”

Match Group, Tinder’s parent company, had previously invested in Garbo to help the non-profit accelerate its growth and adoption to make background searches easier to navigate. Previously, there were varying sources of information to comb through (ranging from public records at the federal, local and state level), and it could quickly become costly to obtain complete results. Garbo streamlined the process to make it easier for people to access the results quickly and with less expense.

The company said in Tinder’s press release that it seeks to “democratize access to public safety information,” and “empower people to make more informed decisions about who they interact with in real life.” 

There was concern when the partnership was first announced that it might compromise privacy for safety, if something like drug possession showed up in a background check, which doesn’t indicate violent behavior. As a result, Garbo’s reporting policy excludes charges like drug possession, loitering and vagrancy. Also, Garbo doesn’t share any personally identifying information like home addresses and phone numbers.

Garbo is also working alongside experts and advocates in areas of safety and abuse through its internal Advocacy Council. As Kosmides noted in the press release: “We want to protect those most vulnerable to experiencing harm both online and offline and this is just the first step in delivering on our mission to help proactively prevent harm in the digital age.”

For more on this dating service, check out our Tinder review.