The way we meet new people and perhaps even find love has radically altered – thanks to dating applications like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge.
However, a recent study claimed that these companies could be selling users personal information for advertising.
Researcher at the Mozilla Foundation found that 22 of the 25 dating apps they examined did not adequately secure user privacy, in fact, several of them had a history of data breaches. Popular dating apps like OkCupid, Bumble, Hinge, and Tinder were given the lowest rating in the research, they are titled as “Privacy Not Included” in the report.
These apps indicate that sharing personal information is voluntary, this is frequently not the case. Some applications, such as Hinge, OkCupid, and Tinder, need users’ permission to access their exact geolocation, if they don’t, the app won’t function. These applications appear to track the user’s location even when they are not actively using them, which is another big red flag.
Researcher, Misha Rykov said Dating apps claim the more personal data you share the more likely you are to find love. We have no way of knowing if that’s true. What we do know is that most dating apps fail spectacularly at protecting that information.
And there have been plenty of privacy problems in the online dating business. A review of the dating industry’s past reveals that the majority of well-known dating apps have been involved in some form of data leak or privacy incident, to provide a few instances:
- Tinder: 70,000 images of female Tinder users were discovered online as a consequence of a data breach (2020).
Due to a data breach that occurred in 2021 and revealed the whereabouts, profile details, and private communications of over 3 million users. - Grindr: Facing millions of dollars in penalties. The fact that Grindr sells HIV status information to outside parties has also been made public.
- OkCupid: A number of serious vulnerabilities put the data of 50 million users at risk (2020). These holes enable hackers to carry out hostile acts, such as sending messages from user accounts and altering user profile information, all without the users’ knowledge.
For all dating apps, the researchers shared their top three privacy tips –
- Treat your dating profile more like your LinkedIn profile.
- Don’t log in with third party accounts.
- Limit app permissions where possible.
Your privacy should come first at any cost. Just by using these dating apps consciously can make a big change.
