What do dating sites do with our personal data? Whether within users or politicians, doubts persist, and are growing. To the point that some investigations have clouded the image of these companies. In Norway last year, a file revealed that “serious invasions of privacy” had been discovered.
For this new year, a new survey project has been set up in the country of Uncle Sam. The House monitoring subcommittee on economic and consumer policy will examine the case of several leaders of the dating sites and applications sector. On the program, the site of confidentiality will be analyzed in depth, in the same way as that of security against attacks.
On dating sites, are we confidential?
It’s not new, and it’s no secret: personal data is the essence of dating sites, but is it also a treasure? Doubts persist on the resale of information from users of each platform, in particular to advertisers. It must be said that by registering and using an application like this, it is easy to know everything about us. From our tastes to our points of view, from our activities to our geographic locations.
The investigation by the American subcommittee thus aims to verify the use of this data by companies such as Match Group (which owns Tinder), The Meet Group, Bumble or Grindr. But the work of the investigators will also target the role that these platforms have to verify the age of each. It is certain that today, creating an account on certain applications does not require any age verification.
Towards a scandal like Uber?
The second project is no less important. In light of the recent Uber scandal and its more than 6,000 sexual assaults in the United States in two years, the subcommittee wants to investigate dating sites and their safety from malicious users. On this point, a new scandal could explode. Indeed, there are more and more suspicions about security against malicious users. Worse: there is an inequality between the free and paid versions of the applications.
“Our concern about minors’ use of dating apps is reinforced by reports that many popular free dating apps allow registered sex offenders to use them, while paid versions of these same apps screen sex offenders registered “ said investigator Raja Krishnamoorthi, a representative from Illinois.
This Democrat, who also heads the subcommittee, regretted the idea that “Protection from sexual predators should not be a luxury for paying customers. “
In any case, if these suspicions are confirmed, a scandal on dating applications could well arise. Match Group – which learned of the investigation in an official letter it received last Thursday – wanted to respond. The group of millions of users said it used “all the tools possible”, but their efforts should be supported by app stores, so that they “would do their part too.”
Like many previously free domains, love has become a business. On our phones, social networks have made room for dating apps, and the randomness of these moments has been replaced by market rules. A change in habits that has also been very well received, to the point that some applications like Tinder today have more than 50 million users worldwide.
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