Do Dating Apps Have a Problem with Harassment?

The Conversation

The problem with the internet is that if someone doesn't really know you then it provides them with some anonymity which in turn takes away some of their inhibitions. This often leads to people either behaving like creeps or pretending to be someone they're not. In a world where a lot of people don't have much time but people don't want to give up on dating, internet dating has become a huge thing. It's not just for the seemingly desperate any more but that doesn't mean that people have stopped lying.

In an attempt to prevent people from catfishing or using out of date pictures of themselves, Badoo have now introduced a photo verification feature. What happens is that you're shown a unique photo that you have to copy the pose of and then snap a shot of yourself in it. The service checks that you're doing the pose and then verifies it against your pictures on your profile. If it doesn't match those pictures then you won't be verified. Of course this won't stop everyone as you don't have to be a verified user but as users can now set their account to only match them with people with verified accounts, you could wind up missing out for the sake of wanting to look better or younger than you are.

Bustle

Of course this won't completely stop harassment. Most services these days require you to connect to Facebook to prove you are who you say you are but it's too easy to make a fake profile. Badoo has taken a step in the right direction but they need to encourage as many people as possible to utilise the feature. Then other apps might try and take on the idea too.

The problem with harassment on other services is more widely publicised then on Badoo. A recent survey by Consumers' Research looked into various different dating services but focused on OkCupid, eHarmony, Match and Tinder. They also looked into services like Grindr, Scruff, Coffee Meets Bagel and a few others but didn't get much information on them. From their survey they gleaned that more women than men feel harassed on dating services and the worst services for harassment were Tinder and OkCupid. This could be because they're two of the most popular services and because Tinder is often used for hook ups. This doesn't excuse the harassment but places why it might happen more on there than on other services. Badoo however is also one of the biggest services and yet they've done something to try and tackle what is a growing problem.

Cosmopolitan

As dating services become even bigger and it becomes the most common way to meet people, there needs to be things in place that stop some people from acting like creeps. Most guys wouldn't go up to a woman in real life and straight out ask for her to get naked but they see it as okay online? There needs to be more safety nets, restrictions and whatever else to try and make online dating safer for men and women alike. People need to be not able to pretend to be someone else, not report and get someone blocked for no reason and not be able to send perverted messages to someone who isn't interested. People need to remember that 55% of dating service users are female and that 57% of them feel that they have been harassed online. Eventually those women are going to get sick of it and we're going to be finding more services like Bumble and a lot less like Tinder and OkCupid where even if numbers suggest otherwise, men rule the roost.

Rosina Brooker

Rosina is a Songbird rookie with a degree in Creative Writing. She's trying to focus on her novel on the side but is hoping that Content Writing will turn out to be a good career choice in the mean time! Follow her @Songbird_Rosina

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