Tinder Launches Mandatory Facial Verification to Weed Out Bots and Scammers
When asked what the app plans to do about fake profiles that already exist, given that Face Check only applies to new users, Roth said the technology is most effective in combating “the biggest problem that concerns us, which is the mass creation of new accounts.”
As WIRED previously reported, Americans reported nearly $4.5 billion in losses related to romance and confidence fraud over the past decade, according to an analysis of FBI Internet crime reports. Through romance scams, fraudsters and catfishers create false identities to lure people into getting their money; Both cryptography and AI can help facilitate these scams.
Tinder is currently undergoing an overhaul with new Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff at the helm. Rascoff, a venture capitalist who co-founded Zillow, took the reins of Match Group in February and, within months, laid off 13 percent of the company’s workforce. Although Rascoff oversees Match Group’s entire portfolio, which includes Hinge, OkCupid, The League, Plenty of Fish and others, he also runs operations at Tinder.
According to the company, early results from Face Check, created in partnership with global 3D face matching and animation software company FaceTec, have led to a significant decrease in the potential harm caused by romance scammers. The technology is already available in Colombia, Canada, Australia, India and parts of Southeast Asia. Tinder claims there has been a 40 percent decrease in “bad actor reports.” The company is committed to “responsible innovation,” Rascoff said in a press release.
Tinder was the big bang of dating apps when it launched in 2012, ushering singles into an era of endless swiping and revolutionizing the dating landscape. Today, however, young people spend less time online swiping for love. In 2024, millennials spent an average of 56 minutes per day on dating apps (compared to 90 minutes in 2018). According to a WIRED investigation, Tinder has taken a considerable hit when it comes to where singles spend their time. “While total dating app downloads worldwide have remained above 120 million annually since 2020, Tinder’s share of that download pie has become smaller,” WIRED reported this year. In 2024, the app saw a 7% decline in paying users, according to Business Insider.
Starting next year, Match Group has announced plans to roll out Face Check to other apps in its portfolio.
Compared to dating apps, Roth says, “the balance of privacy is different on a speech-focused platform. In the context of apps designed to connect people in the real world, we think there’s not just a moral imperative, but a business imperative to prioritize and build for security.”
