Safety

A new study by Pew Research Center found that roughly half of U.S. online daters, or 47 percent of those surveyed, want to see the vaccination status on the profiles of potential matches.

Covid-19 vaccination status has been a divisive issue for people when it comes to dating. Many are eager to move past the pandemic and don’t mind if their dates aren’t vaccinated or if they know up front how they feel about getting the vaccine. But still, 47 percent say it is at least somewhat important that they know upfront before they start engaging with a date, and that they look to see if their matches included vaccination status in their profiles. About a quarter of all respondents said it was very important their dates mention their vaccination status in their profiles.

When drilling down, Pew found that those wanting to see their dates’ vaccination status were more likely to vote Democratic, so the divide was also along political party lines. The research found that respondents who identified as Democrats were more likely to be vaccinated and more likely to say they would only go out with someone who is vaccinated.

Match Group is bringing the free background checks feature on Tinder to two more of its dating apps: Match (its signature app) and Stir, an app geared toward single parents.

The feature allows users two free background checks on matches, and after that there’s a cost. Right now, premium users on Tinder get four free background checks, and the same will apply for users of Stir and Match, according to The Verge.

The background checks feature was implemented in partnership with security service Garbo which actually runs the background checks. According to The Verge, when a user is chatting with someone and suggests meeting, a box pops up to ask if they want to do a background check. If they tap on the link, they see some safety tips before being transferred to the Garbo platform where the report is accessed.

Since Tinder was banned in Pakistan, young singles are flocking to private Facebook groups to meet others to date, even though Facebook Dating is not available in the country.

One of the most popular Facebook groups is Two Rings, a volunteer-run matchmaking group that does not charge its users any fees. It currently has about 228,000 members, and at least 335 couples have found spouses through the group, according to news source Rest of World.

"Instead of waiting on their parents or family to find somebody, they are actually now doing it all on their own," a cofounder of a Facebook dating group for graduates of some of Pakistan’s premier business schools told Business Insider.

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble is rekindling its “Stand for Safety” initiative in India to help combat online abuse.

According to Business Today India, the company released a guidebook created in partnership with the Centre for Social Research (CSR), a non-profit, and Nyaaya, an open-access digital resource center that educates people about their rights. The guide will “drive awareness around digital safety and support the community in recognizing and combating online abuse, bullying, and discrimination.”

Bumble decided to relaunch the initiative after conducting a survey across India on the scope and effects of online harassment. The company found that 50 percent of respondents had seen hateful online content, and around 40 percent have faced hate speech and bullying in regard to their particular community, or to their physical appearance.

Alex Hofman, a tech investor and former president of Musical.ly (which later became TikTok), has launched a new dating app called Spark.

Spark employs some traditional dating app features with a twist, and with some extra safety precautions. According to Tech Crunch, when a user logs in, they are presented with a grid of potential matches who are on the app at the same time. If the user sees someone they are interested in, they can like the photo – and if there is a mutual like, they can start chatting, but they only have 24 hours to respond or the match goes away.

Tech Crunch pointed out that while there is no swiping like in traditional dating apps, it has a mixture of similar features. Grindr for example, presents users with a grid of multiple people, but they don’t have to match before being able to message each other which leads to a lot of unwanted communication. Bumble puts a 24-hour time limit on matches to encourage them to communicate more quickly.

Many dating app users have complained about getting unsolicited nude photos, and are now demanding digital consent before a communicating with a match.

Dating apps have been struggling with what to do about this issue for a while, but since the pandemic attracted many new users to dating apps, the problem has grown. According to The New York Post, A World Wide Web Foundation survey found that 52 percent of young women and girls said they had experienced online abuse, including threatening messages, sexual harassment and being sent lewd photos without consent. A whopping majority of 87 percent said they believe the issue is only getting worse. 

Dating app Bumble launched a feature called Private Detector to counteract this problem. Private Detector works with AI to detect when a nude photo is sent and blurs the picture before the recipient can see it, allowing them to block and report the user without having to see it first.