The dating app Tinder will offer its users a way to check if their potential dates have been convicted of violent crimes, a feature that experts warn has limitations.
The app’s parent company Match Group announced on Wednesday it would offer access to Garbo, an online background check platform that can reveal if a person has any history of violence.
When users navigate to Garbo via the Tinder app, they will have to enter the name, phone number or other details of a potential date to find out if they’ve been arrested, convicted or listed on the sex offender registry.
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Tinder and other dating apps have been pressured to act after women claimed they were sexually assaulted by men they met on the platforms.
“This is just the first step in delivering on our mission to help proactively prevent harm in the digital age,” Garbo founder Kathryn Kosmides said in a statement.
A free Garbo search would be offered for the first 500,000 searches, and thereafter an additional search would be charged a $2.50 processing fee.
Some offences such as possession of drugs, loitering, and vagrancy won’t be listed in search results. Garbo added that personal information such as home addresses and phone numbers are not displayed.
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The company, in a blog post, stated that the service aims to prevent violence by providing information, but stated that there are limitations.
“Most violent individuals never interact with the criminal justice system and Garbo does not have access to all records across the United States due to jurisdictional challenges,” the post said.
Nicole Bedera, a researcher specializing in sexual violence, told AFP most sexual assaults are never reported to authorities, and even documented cases face significant challenges in court.
“It’s a very under prosecuted crime. And even when cases do move through the criminal justice system — regardless of what country you’re in — you’re going to see a low conviction rate,” she added.
The incompleteness of criminal records and racial bias are among the concerns raised by Sarah Lageson, a professor at the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice.
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“Many white sexual predators do not have a criminal record and many Black people have a misleading or unfair one,” she noted.
Garbo, for its part, acknowledged the dangers of the current era.
“In today’s digital age, we’re connecting with more strangers than ever before — yet we increasingly know less and less about who we’re meeting,” the company noted.
“What if we could proactively prevent some of the harm against ourselves and our communities?” it asked.
(With inputs from agencies)
