SINGAPORE — Picture this: you’re engrossed in a dating app, spending hours swiping left and right, until you finally find a match. You chat for days and weeks, only to discover later it was all a love scam, leaving you feeling deceived and disheartened. Or worse, you were harassed or a became victim of verbal abuse.
Unfortunately, the world of dating apps isn’t always a safe haven. It can lead you down a rabbit hole of unpleasant experiences such as encountering nudity or sexual content, receiving hate, getting spam messages, meeting impersonators, or matching with people only to be sold insurance or business products.
With more than 400 cases of internet love scams reported in the first half of 2023 in Singapore, how do dating apps ensure user safety while they embark on the search for love?
Enter Tinder with the launch of its new Dating Safety Guide for users in Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. This guide offers a plethora of safety dating tips, seamlessly integrated into the app experience, said the dating app in a news release on Wednesday (6 March).
“We know that safety is complex and personal – and we approach it from several different angles,” it added.
Here are five safety-focused features you might not have known existed on Tinder:
Tinder’s interactive Safety Centre is a 24-hour hub for safety resources. It offers local resources, articles, tips, quizzes and information about Tinder’s safety and privacy features. Tinder even incorporated a safety shield that appears while you’re chatting, keeping safety top-of-mind throughout your online interactions.
The feature was developed in collaboration with the Match Group Advisory Council and additional non-governmental organisation (NGO) partners to help protect and educate users to make more informed choices on the app, and in real life.
Say goodbye to static profile photos that may not be entirely truthful. Tinder now allows you to create video selfies to verify you profile and ensure you’re who you say you are.
A new update requires app you to complete a series of video prompts to earn the verified blue checkmark.
Previously, you could verify your app profile by snapping photos in a series of static poses. The photos were then compared against others on the member’s profile.
Feeling a connection with your match and want to see if the spark is real? You can do so with the app’s video chat function. Tinder’s in-app video calling feature allows you to meet virtually, and verify that your match is genuine. It can also help you assess chemistry before suggesting meeting for a date in real life, all without giving away personal contact details.
Tinder takes a proactive approach to preventing inappropriate behaviour on its platform. The “Are You Sure?” prompt pops up whenever you’re about to send a message that the app detects as potentially offensive.
“Bad behaviour and patterns of inappropriate content can result in someone’s removal,” said Tinder.
Similarly, if you receive a message that crosses the line, a “Does This Bother You?” prompt appears. In a “yes” response, you will have the option to report the sender for their behaviour.
These features are constantly being improved, with Tinder expanding its detection capabilities to encompass more languages and a wider range of harmful or inappropriate content, including hate speech, sexual exploitation or harassment.
Instead of fully hiding your profile on the app, you can choose to go on “incognito mode” to browse profiles undetected. You can still “like” and “nope” on profiles in this mode, but only users you’ve expressed interest in will see your profile in their recommendations.
This is a paid feature if you’re dipping your toes back into the dating pool but want to control who sees you on Tinder.
Reporting bad behaviour is now easier than ever with whe “long press reporting” function. Simply tap and hold on the offensive message to launch a reporting flow directly within the chat. This will enable easier reporting of bad behaviour through a simplified process.
Tinder said it hopes more members will report bad behaviour, allowing it to “take appropriate action” against violators of its community guidelines.
Bumble also recently came up with an AI tool to counter scams, spam and fake profiles.
Also, if you identify as LGBTQ+, here are seven dating apps to check out in Singapore.
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