Single? Tinder is there to help! The online dating app is currently working on a new feature that will search for potentially concerning details about a person before you going on a date with them.
Tinder is basically now following the Indian path of checking a person’s background before matching his or her profile with another person. Tinder is currently working on a new feature in its app that will search for potentially concerning details about a person before creating a match – basically, something which individuals do on their own before going out with someone.
Match Group, the parent company of dating platforms like Tinder, Match.com, Plenty of Fish, OkCupid, and Hinge has announced its investment in background-check function technology Garbo on of its platform, Tinder. Later this year, Tinder will roll out this new feature and will allow users to run a background check on their possible dates. The feature will also help users to get a background check of their partner, regardless of their gender or sexuality.
The initial test of the new feature will, for now, roll out to US swipers in the coming months and once the feature works well with Tinder users and Garbo gets fully adopted on the app, the Match Group company will soon add the feature to its other dating apps.
With this new feature, Tinder users will be able to run background checks on their dates and will also be able to know the details about them which will include the history of violence or any arrest records.
Garbo background check
From online dating to ridesharing, we are now connecting with more strangers than ever before. There’s no way of knowing if someone has a history of violence until it’s too late. With the increasing need for background checks to proactively prevent violence particularly gender-based violence, Garbo comes to our rescue.
Garbo is basically a new kind of background check that collects public records and “reports of violence or abuse, including arrests, convictions, restraining orders, harassment, and other violent crimes”. As per the statement from Garbo, it has been made clear that the platform doesn’t disclose traffic violations of a person and it has also started excluding drug possession charges from its platform, as they don’t predict “gender-based violence”.
The Garbo background check on Tinder will obviously not be free. Either the app will charge a separate cost for the feature or will include it in one of the app’s subscription plans.
Background check: The much-needed feature
It’s a fact that online dating comes with its pros and cons. While, with the digital availability of dating apps it has become immensely easy to find a date today, but at the same time it has also increased the security risks. Online dating often comes with security risks. Through these apps, a person can either be a victim of cyberbullying and stalking or can lead a person to meet a stranger with a history of offenses. And, that is why it becomes really important to do a background check before using a dating site to identify these criminals.
According to various reports, it has been found that crimes related to online dating are continuously increasing in number. Therefore, using features like background checks can really help users to be aware of any danger and can also help them take some responsible decisions.
Can this feature protect you from catfishing?
To understand whether the availability of this new feature will help you protect yourself from catfishing, it is important to understand what exactly is catfishing. Catfishing is deception at its very core. It is the process of luring someone into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona. A catfish creates a fake online identity in order to lure victims. Catfishing is very common when it comes to online dating and sing apps like Tinder, Bumble, or Hinge.
But the question arises is that whether bringing features like background checking will help prevent catfishing? Well, the answer is not exactly. The feature can not be very effective in countering the issues of catfishing. It is yet not clear that how exactly Garbo is going to work. It is true that Garbo will help find information regarding a person’s past public records but at the same time, it is very much a possibility that a person might have faked their profile in order for you to not get correct and apt information about them.
Past additions by Tinder
In order to reduce the risk of sexual and dating violence against the users, Tinder has started to remove the offending account from the platform, if a user reports information about someone’s violent past to Tinder. Apart from this Tinder, and its rival Bumble has also added tools like photo verification and in-app video calling to ensure the safety of the users and to avoid users being catfished.
In fact, in January 2020, Tinder even added a “panic button” feature on the app, in case the date takes a dangerous turn. The feature allowed the users to store information about a date, including location data, and also alert emergency services if the button was pressed. Such features are being added in the app as part of the safety initiatives and in order to give users a better experience.