Dating app safety risks: Dark side of modern love, with some users more vulnerable to violence, manipulation

Dating app users looking for love are more likely to face sexual violence if they use them often, pay for an account or utilise multiple platforms.

A majority of people now find a partner online, but this has led to a surge in users experiencing sexual violence from dating apps.

Almost three in four people experienced online sexual harassment, aggression or violence from someone they met on a dating app, while one in five reported being threatened, one Australian study found.

Those who linked social media accounts to their profiles or shared sexual and relationship preferences were more vulnerable to dating app-facilitated sexual violence, according to the Australian Institute of Criminology.

This includes people sending, demanding or threatening to share a sexually explicit image or video without consent, pressuring respondents to meet in person and posting offensive comments.

Announcements from online dating app platforms were “nothing more than PR” as opt-in models didn’t prevent sexual violence and didn’t hold people accountable, End Rape on Campus founder Sharna Bremner said.

While there was a role for apps to play - including by removing offenders from platforms - they weren’t the main problem, she said.

“It’s not the app in their hands, it’s the attitudes in their heads,” she told AAP.

More education was needed to address sexual violence rates, with too much of the focus put on how women respond, Ms Bremner said.

“Young women are afraid of violence whether it’s on an app or whether it’s on a date ... the violence is coming from the people who choose to perpetrate it,” she said.

Dating apps have spruiked safety features protecting users.

Match Group, which operates Tinder and Hinge, have photo and ID verification to prevent perpetrators from jumping across platforms — although this isn’t mandatory - and AI to detect harmful behaviours.

Grindr has an online security guide and safety tips while Bumble said safety measures included blocking and reporting users, photo verification and in-app audio to cut out the need to share personal phone numbers or social media.

Safety features like identity verification could help reduce the abuse, the criminology institute found, adding that while some safety features are being used by platforms, more needed to be done “given the high prevalence of harm”.

Violence stemming from dating apps was a form of gender-based violence and had to end, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said, pointing to a recently enacted industry code of conduct as a pathway for change.

“(It) will improve safety for Australians using dating apps and help them make choices about the apps they use,” she told AAP.

The non-mandatory industry code came into place in October and requires platforms to put in place measures to detect online harm and take action against perpetrators to stop them creating new accounts.

The most popular apps including Bumble, Grindr and Match Group’s platforms have signed up.

But independent senator David Pocock has called for the code to be made mandatory after it was developed by the industry, saying multinationals were gaming the system by coming up with their own rules.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has threatened to put enforceable regulations in place if the companies don’t make enough progress.

The eSafety commissioner is reviewing its effectiveness over nine months.

Lifeline 13 11 14

beyondblue 1300 22 4636

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028

Fullstop Australia 1800 385 578

Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25)