Tinder Launches Mandatory Facial Verification to Weed Out Bots and Scammers

Wednesday, Tinder announced that it is rolling out a mandatory facial verification tool for new users in the US fake profile and weeding out “bad actors”.

Tinder claims its mandatory facial integration feature, called Face Check, is a first for a major dating app. During the sign-up process, new members complete a “live test” by taking a short video selfie within the app. The method collects and stores an encrypted map of information about the shape of the user’s face. “We don’t store pictures of your face, no Image recognitionIt’s data points about the shape of your face that’s turned into a mathematical hash,” says Yoel Roth, head of Trust and Safety for Match Group, which owns Tinder. Tinder then uses that “hash” to check whether a new sign-up matches an account that already exists on Tinder.

Face Check is currently available to users in California, with Texas and other states to follow

A news releaseRoth said the measure “sets a new standard for trust and security across the dating industry” and “helps address one of the toughest problems online, knowing if someone is real … while adding meaningful barriers that are difficult for bad actors to overcome.”

The company defines “bad actors” as accounts that engage in fraudulent behavior, including spamming, scamming and bots. Currently 98 percent of Tinder’s content moderation actions address fake accounts, scamming, and spam. “A significant amount of the overall trust and safety work we do at Tinder is focused on this challenge.”

Roth says it’s “a meaningful improvement in our ability to deal with scaled abuse. You can get new phone numbers, new email addresses, new devices — you can’t really get a new face.”

The company is aware that asking new members to scan their face could be seen as a privacy issue, but “theoretically, if someone could get access to every one of these hashes that’s created, there’s really nothing they can do.”

The app’s previous verification methods were voluntary. Members may, depending on their jurisdiction, choose to verify their profile through a selfie or ID process. Other dating apps like Bumble also use facial recognition software to allow daters to verify their authenticity, but voluntarily.

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 “the biggest issue we’re concerned about is the creation of new accounts.”