Report: Match the group dating app to hide attack cases

A nasty investigation by nonprofit news organizations is the AI ​​Accountability Network report from Markup and Pulitzer Center, which (which owns major dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, and Okcupid) retains users who report sexual assaults. Records, but not taking measures to properly prohibit them from entering the application network, may also warn law enforcement or the public.

Stephen Matthews' case is used as an example throughout the report. According to Markup, cardiologist Matthews was reportedly raped several times. However, his account is still on the way – he even became “outstanding” (a profile that has attracted widespread attention). In October last year, Matthews was sentenced to 158 years in prison. The jury was convicted of 35 counts related to 111 women and/or sexual assault between 2019 and 2023. Additional women accused Matthews of drug and/or rape of a woman not included in the court complaint.

Although the woman reported Matthews on the app, his profile continued. Why?

“According to internal company documents, Match Group has been reported for years to do drug use, attack or rape dates since 2016,” the dating app report project published an investigation said, “Although Match Group said in a report on the Dating Apps report that the Match Group has said that in the In 2020, “The promise was to release our industry’s first transparency report in 2022, but the company has not released it yet.

Apart from the lack of transparency, the project found that the match group did not have a strong enough system to ban bad actors and would not prevent users from resigning the same application in the same application that had been banned or registered for another matching group application. program. The researchers said they used various methods of discovery online to see how easy it is forbidden accounts to return to the platform.

“Over multiple tests, we successfully created new accounts without changing the user's name, birthday or profile photo,” Statistics reporter Natasha Uzcátegui-Liggett said in the report. “Tags do not test any method that requires a lot of technical knowledge, And using only this information, which is easy to access for those who have a rough search on how to resolve the ban.”

Meanwhile, as the race group's share price has fallen over the past few years, the group has reportedly faced pressure to cut costs – the project says trust and security operations are affected. The report said the company refused to work to increase investigative measures and security protocols, according to internal documents from the researchers, as it could stall the company's growth. There is only one example of Tinder working with nonprofit Galbo in 2022 for background checks, just to end the following year’s partnership.

“We recognize our role in fostering safer communities and promoting a global connection of authenticity and respect,” reads a matching group statement for the project. “We will always strive to invest and improve our systems and find ways to help our users stay safe when they connect online and in real life.”

It continues: “We take every report of misconduct seriously and are alert to deleting and blocking accounts that violate our rules for such conduct.”

Mashable has reached out to help. Read the rest of the survey of the competition group.