July 1, 2010— -- Everyone may deserve a chance at love, but do potential paramours have the right to know if the people they meet on Internet dating sites have a criminal past?

Earlier this month, a San Antonio man, who is also a convicted murderer, was searching for singles on the online dating site Match.com until a local paper revealed his past.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, because the Dallas-based website doesn't conduct background checks on members, Abraham Fortune's history remained under the radar until the paper picked up the news after reporting an unrelated story on Fortune. .

Once alerted to Fortune's record, Match.com removed his profile from the site. But the incident has prompted some in the blogosphere and beyond to wonder: should background checks be mandatory for members of online dating sites?

Match.com declined to comment specifically on the Fortune case. But Match.com General Manager Mandy Ginsberg said that though the company takes its members' security very seriously, it chooses not to conduct background checks because of inaccuracies and incomplete information in the felony and sex offender databases.

"If we provide background checks, can they be accurate? And if they're not, do we give a false sense of security to people on the site?" she said. "That's the big concern I have. If someone slips through the cracks… does that create more of a risk for people to not be more prudent?"

She said that regardless of where singles meet -- be it in a bar, at a nightclub or at the grocery store -- they should be cautious as they get to know strangers.

On Match.com, which welcomes more than 20,000 singles a day in the U.S., she said people should behave no differently.

"People should exercise caution," she said. "You always have to be smart."

But other people familiar with the world of Internet dating argue that, especially on sites that charge for the service, background checks should be part of the package.

"They're making a lot of money, they're charging a lot of money. I think doing a background check… should be integrated in almost every major dating site," said Stephany Alexander, founder of the free date screening site WomanSavers.com and author of the book "Sex, Lies and the Internet."

While it's true that singles can encounter sex offenders and convicted felons anywhere and not know it, Alexander said the difference in an online environment is that people can conceal their histories behind a computer screen.

With glamour shots and embellished personal descriptions, "it's easier to hide behind a fake profile," she said.

Dating Expert: It's Easy to Hide Behind a Profile

Julie Spira, cyber-dating expert and author of "The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online," said that it would be helpful for sites to at least give users the option to do a background check on other members.

Just as some sites let users pay for extra online services, she suggested that sites let users run background checks on those they encounter online, on a person-by-person basis.

"I belive that the site would be doing a better service for their members if they offered the opportunity for someone to do a background search," she said.

But while most online dating sites leave it up to individual members to suss out the suspicious strangers they meet on the Internet, executives behind one dating website say it's their business to keep their members as safe as possible.

Ruben Buell, president of True.com, said that since the company launched in 2003, it has conducted background checks on every person that signs up for the site.

"We wanted to change the way dating sites were perceived and the way people used them so that when someone came online they had a much better understanding that the person they were talking to was not a convicted felon," he said.

True.com: Background Checks Are Better Than Nothing at All

Buell said True.com screens out convicted felons, including sex offenders, in every state. True also makes members confirm their marital status. If the site discovers that a married person has attempted to join, the company says it will turn them in for wire fraud.

Buell said the dating service welcomes thousands of people to the site a day, but rejects about 2-3 percent. He said that's in line with national statistics that indicate that about 2 percent of the population are convicted felons.

While competitors may argue that True's imperfect service gives clients a false sense of security, Buell said the screening process is better than nothing at all.

"No system in the world is bullet-proof," he said. "Nothing is perfect but these databases do cover 95 percent of the population of the U.S."

Choosing not to do background checks because they're not totally foolproof, he said, is like a police department deciding not to pursue murderers because they won't be able to catch everyone.

True's screening process doesn't catch everyone, but it catches the majority, Buell said. The company's website also discloses to members that the background checks are not a perfect safety solution and that they should still be careful.

Users of Dating Sites View Background Checks With Caution

Mark Brooks, a consultant to online dating sites and editor of Online Personals Watch, said the issue of background checks has been a controversial one for the industry for years.

A few years ago, several states considered legislation on the issue, he said, but thus far only New Jersey has an Internet dating safety law. It requires that sites provide users with safety notices and inform users if they don't conduct background checks on members.

As Internet dating sites increasingly compete with social networking sites, he said they do face more pressure to provide the security of a site like Facebook, which lets users see the company potential dates keep.

But Brooks said unless dating services use them as a marketing point, like True.com, they are mostly wary of offering background checks on their sites.

"One the one hand, I think that it's a key differentiator for the dating industry to offer these kinds of checks, in theory. But in practice, users view these kinds of checks with great concern," he said.

Even the mention of background checks, he said, could make users skeptical about the kind of people they might meet on a dating site.

Online Dating Sites Already Offer Layers of Protection

He also said that the lag time in updating sex offender and felony databases doesn't make the manpower and financial expense of background checks worth it to most dating sites.

But he added that the millions of people who made the online dating industry a $1.2 billion business in 2009 shouldn't worry. Not only do sites monitor and remove users for various kinds of abuse, including spamming, scamming and obscene online behavior, the medium itself provides a level of security.

On sites that charge a subscription, people with malicious intentions can be traced through their credit cards. And some sites offer users ways to communicate with other members through double-blind e-mail and phone call systems that mask real contact information until they're ready to reveal it.

And Brooks noted that online or off, troubling though it may be to accept, people with shady pasts may be looking for love too.

"Statistically speaking, you have to bear in mind that just as you'd meet someone on the street, you can also meet people who aren't favorable on a dating site," Brooks said. "Anyone who goes on a dating site who is wanted as a murderer is pretty dumb. It's pretty unlikely to happen."

"Inside Out" by Keri Blakinger is a partnership between NBC News and The Marshall Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering the U.S. criminal justice system. The column draws on Blakinger’s unique perspective as an investigative journalist and formerly incarcerated person.

Jason Hernandez got out of prison in 2015 and started making up for lost time. He’d done nearly 18 years on federal drug conspiracy charges, and only escaped life behind bars because then-President Barack Obama granted him clemency. He settled down near Dallas, began volunteering in schools, visited the White House and wrote a book.

Then he decided to start dating, so he downloaded Tinder. He was open about his past, and at first, it was fine. But a couple months ago, he got a notification: “Your account has been banned.”

Although he can’t prove the reason why, he’s been booted from half a dozen other apps with similar prohibitions tucked into their terms of service: People with felonies — anything from a $10 drug conviction to capital murder — are banned for life. These policies aren’t new, but their enforcement has been haphazard.

That could change. Match Group, which owns Tinder and a host of other dating sites, plans to launch a feature allowing daters to run background checks on potential matches. The company says its efforts are aimed at keeping users safe. But civil rights advocates say the record checks extend an unfair practice of imposing “collateral consequences” long after people have finished their sentences, and will disproportionately affect people of color without actually improving safety.

“Meeting strangers can be risky, and I worry that this approach will mislead people into thinking they’re safe,” said Sarah Lageson, a Rutgers University sociologist who studies the growing use of online criminal records. “It’s using the justice system as a barometer of someone’s worth.”

Match Group wouldn’t say when or why the company created its ban, but a spokeswoman said Match would “continue to develop and evolve” its policies. “We understand and share the concerns raised about the impact our policies have on people who have been incarcerated, many of whom are victims of the inequities of the criminal justice system,” she said.

The practice of banning people from certain rights or activities because of a criminal conviction was once known as civil death. People who were convicted of felonies lost all property and rights before the usual punishment: execution. Now, the collateral consequences of a conviction typically last far longer than any court’s sentence.

In some states, people with felonies cannot serve on juries or buy pepper spray, and can be disqualified from getting an electrician license or fostering kids. Employers often exclude applicants with criminal backgrounds, some schools won’t admit students with felonies, and many apartments ban people with misdemeanors.

As someone with a criminal history, these are problems I understand. More than a decade ago, I was arrested in upstate New York with 6 ounces of heroin and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison. Afterward, I stopped doing drugs, finished college and became a journalist.

I am white and grew up in the suburbs, but even for someone with such privilege, collateral consequences are everywhere — and they make it harder to reintegrate into the community. In the past decade, I’ve been turned down for jobs, rejected from volunteering at an animal shelter and told I don’t qualify for more apartments than I can count. When I was looking for a new place during the pandemic, I found that people cared far more about my decade-old drug conviction than about whether I took Covid-19 seriously. Hundreds of apartment listings barred people convicted of felonies, but I only saw one that mentioned pandemic safety.

Whether they’re tucked into terms of service or hidden in unspoken biases, collateral consequences have an outsize impact on communities of color.

“Even though only 8 percent of the population has a felony record, 33 percent of Black men have felony records, so any ban on people with felony records disproportionately affects Black communities,” said Amreeta Mathai, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who’s pushing the rental app Airbnb to stop banning people with “serious” felonies from using the service. (Airbnb did not offer a comment, but referred me to the company’s online policy.)

Most major dating apps ask users to verify that they haven’t been convicted of felonies when they sign up — but that language is easy to miss in the terms of service, and it’s on an honor system. Generally, it only comes up if another user makes a report. The policies don’t provide exceptions for nonviolent crimes, and the ban never expires.

When I started contacting the companies to ask about their policies, eHarmony said no one had time to comment, while Coffee Meets Bagel and Zoosk didn’t respond. (All three companies ban people convicted of felonies.) Bumble — which does not explicitly ban people with felonies but booted Hernandez anyway — asked to set up a call, then stopped responding. Facebook Dating and Grindr, which don’t have bans, didn’t respond on the record. A representative for Meet Group said that only two of the company’s apps — Skout and GROWLr — have a ban, based on policies it inherited when it acquired those apps. The representative said Meet Group would reconsider that part of the policy.

Match Group came under scrutiny after a 2019 ProPublica investigation found registered sex offenders on the company’s free apps, which include Tinder, Plenty of Fish and OKCupid. That’s because the company only did the pricey background checks needed to enforce the felony ban on its paid site, Match.com.

After implementing new safety measures last year, in March the company announced its investment in Garbo, a nonprofit aiming to create more accessible background checks, focused on preventing dating violence. When Garbo’s app launches later this year, users will be able to pay what the organization describes as a small fee, enter a first name and a phone number and in a few minutes get a stranger’s criminal record, or at least part of it. (A Match Group representative said any money collected will go to Garbo; Match won’t receive any profits.)

“We realized that the opportunity to build an equitable background check existed with the focus on reporting violence,” founder Kathryn Kosmides said. “We make the effort to filter out drug possession, loitering, things like that.”

But Garbo will also provide access to arrests and cases that never resulted in convictions. Pointing out that many abusers aren’t convicted as often as they’re accused, Kosmides said those records will help people make more informed decisions. Someday she hopes to expand the service to vet passengers on ride-share apps like Uber and Lyft.

Legal experts say that relying on arrests and dismissed cases undermines the presumption of innocence and won’t necessarily improve safety. And they note that while some dating app users may feel safer if people who committed certain crimes are filtered out of an app, prior convictions may not be an indication of danger.

The felony bans also have not stopped complaints of sexual violence linked to dating apps. A recent ProPublica investigation based on interviews with more than 50 current and former dating company employees found that they lacked clear policies to prevent and respond to alleged assaults.

“You could have someone with an old drug conviction, and how is it keeping anyone safer to ban them?” said Jenny Roberts, a law professor at American University who studies collateral consequences. “But a current drug user in a nice neighborhood that police aren’t policing, they’re allowed on that website. It creates a false sense of security.”

Instead, experts said improved dating app safety could come from better identity verification practices. And helping people who are seeking long-term relationships could make everyone safer.

“The things that make us safer are things like having a stable family, getting married, being able to buy a house — participating in all these social institutions that have been around for a long time helps make sure the crime rate doesn’t go up,” said Lageson, the Rutgers sociologist. “So if you’re worried about public safety, the best thing you can do is bring people into relationships.”

Though Hernandez, the former prisoner, can’t prove that he got booted because of his felony, he says it was the only way his account violated the terms of service. “How can you hold something against me that I did in 1993?”

He’s hoping that the companies will reconsider their policies. But for now, he’s doing his online dating on Facebook.

Keri Blakinger, The Marshall Project

Keri Blakinger is a staff writer at The Marshall Project. 

Tinder is partnering up with an app that offers online background checks so that users can research whether their dates have been convicted of violent crimes.

Match Group, Tinder’s parent company, announced the partnership with Garbo, the online platform that allows users to access public information including people’s arrests, convictions, and sex offender registry records.

Tinder users who log into the app’s safety center will be directed to Garbo, where they can input the name and phone number of their match.

Garbo will then provide information about possible arrests and convictions for certain violent crimes as well as sex offender registry status.

Tinder and other dating apps, including Bumble, have come under pressure to act after women reported being sexually assaulted by men they met through online platforms.

In September 2020, Match Group hired Tracey Breeden as vice president of safety and social advocacy whose portfolio includes other subsidiaries such as Hinge, Match, OKCupid, and PlentyofFish.

Breeden was hired away from Uber, where she held the same position.

“We believe we have an important role to play in creating safer spaces for everyone,” Breeden told The Post.

“Our users — and the general public at large — have the right to access public records about someone they may want to meet, particularly when information that can impact safety.

“That’s why we’re so excited about this partnership with Garbo — it represents a big step forward in safety for our users and the industry as a whole.”

In 2019, the news site ProPublica found that while Match Group, the Dallas-based firm that owns 45 online dating brands, screened for sexual predators on the Match site, it did not do so for Tinder, OKCupid, or PlentyofFish.

Match is an app for paid subscribers, while the other dating apps in the Match Group portfolio are free of charge.

In 2011, Carole Markin, an entertainment industry executive, filed a lawsuit against Match after she told police she was raped on the second date by a man she met on the site who was convicted of rape six times beforehand.

Match and Markin reached a settlement. The company also set up a screening process to vet users for sex crimes and criminal convictions.

Match Group has taken other measures to enhance user safety in light of reported assaults.

In 2020, it bought a stake in Noonlight, which allows users to notify police by clicking a button in cases of an emergency.

When Jerrel Gantt was released from prison after three years, he was handed a pamphlet about healthcare and nothing else. He began searching for employment, a deep source of anxiety for him, and secured housing through a ministry in New York City. He later enrolled in school part-time.

As he settled into life outside of prison and developed a support system, Gantt began going on dates with people he met on apps like Tinder.

The process has not been without challenges – revealing that he is formerly incarcerated usually comes up early in the dating process for Gantt. “It’s something I dread having to do, and I feel like I have to do it because that’s the type of person I am,” Gantt said. Though information about his criminal history is public record, he likes to be in control of that conversation so he can be as upfront and clear about the details as possible.

Now, a new initiative aims to get that information into the hands of dating app users before a date even takes place, partly to address safety issues that arise on dating apps. The company Match Group, which includes a portfolio of apps like Tinder, OkCupid and Hinge, recently announced a partnership with a non-profit background check company called Garbo to integrate background checks into its online properties.

But critics argue the new integration could mimic notoriously faulty background checks and effectively discriminate against the nearly one-third of the adult working population in the US with criminal records, without necessarily making dating apps safer.

In September 2020, Match Group hired Tracey Breeden, a former police officer and head of Women’s Safety and Gender-Based Violence Operations at Uber, to develop safety features for its dating apps. Led by Breeden’s team, Match Group invested in Garbo to roll out the product on Tinder later this year.

Garbo’s goal is to develop a two- to three-minute background check that flags information to dating app users without sharing home addresses, email addresses, or phone numbers. If a user chooses to run a background check on a match, the user would pay a yet-to-be-determined fee.

If you were a violent individual, I do believe people deserve to know that. Do people deserve to know your home address in today’s digital world? No

Founder Kathryn Kosmides and the Garbo team are still working out crucial details of the product itself, including what specific crimes will be flagged for app users. The idea is to focus specifically on protecting users from violent crimes, stalking and harassment. Kosmides said that drug possession and traffic violations will not be included, but DUIs and vehicular manslaughter will be.

The team is still deliberating on including prostitution and solicitation, crimes for which trangender people have a higher risk of being targeted and arrested; though Kosmides said it was very unlikely it would be included because she personally doesn’t view it as a crime and it “has no association with violence”.

Kosmides said she didn’t want Garbo to only focus on what she calls “human-to-human violence”. “Violence against the state and violence against property also have associations with gender-based violence. And so we can’t just eliminate these completely,” she said.

“If you were a violent individual, I do believe people deserve to know that,” Kosmides said. “Do people deserve to know your home address in today’s digital world? No.”

Match Group has a long history of safety issues on its platforms. A 2019 ProPublica investigation found a muddy internal reporting process at the company, as several women who reported being raped or sexually assaulted on dating apps were given little or no response.

In fact, they saw their abusers on different dating apps years, or sometimes, months later. The investigation cites a 2016 report from the UK National Crime Agency that found an increase in online-dating assault over a five-year period from 33 to 184 cases – still, a relatively small number given the 7.8 million users on Tinder alone.

One in four women in the US have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) which includes stalking, sexual violence and physical violence from an intimate partner. The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (Rainn) reports that three out of four sexual assaults go unreported, a widespread problem that makes it more difficult to identify violent users on dating apps.

But after reviewing 150 sexual assault incidents involving dating apps, the same ProPublica investigation found that most of the accused perpetrators weren’t listed as sex offenders at the time that the crime was committed and concluded that even if background checks were conducted, they alone wouldn’t have been effective at preventing violence.

The Garbo team has yet to decide how far back in time background checks will search, a source of concern for advocates that argue that using criminal history against people who have served their time is another form of “lifelong punishment”.

The company is also working on a feature that would allow users to submit their own “evidence” such as police reports, restraining orders and other legal documents that report crimes or harassment. Documents will need a case number to be accepted.

Sarah Lageson, a sociologist and assistant professor at Rutgers University-Newark School of Criminal Justice, said the onus should be on Match Group to vet users and make sure their platforms are safe. But she argued that requiring users to try to understand the ins and outs of the legal system, or decide to run a check themselves, isn’t an effective solution.

It’s just going to reinforce stereotypes and racial discrimination and make people really scared when they don’t need to be

“I think shifting the burden on to people that are just looking for their future partner is really a heavy burden. And it’s just going to reinforce stereotypes and racial discrimination and make people really scared when they don’t need to be,” Lageson said.

A spokesperson for Match Group said the company was working with racial justice groups for “more equitable solutions”.

Another core issue with the Match Group’s approach lies in the unreliability of background checks.

In recent years, many employers have moved away from issuing background checks to avoid the stigma already faced by this population since policing, convictions and sentencing disproportionately affect Black people and other minorities. As of 2020, 36 states and 150 cities have instituted a “Ban the Box” policy that prohibits employers from asking about a person’s criminal history during job applications.

Wanda Bertram, a spokesperson for the Prison Policy Initiative, a research organization, argued that because the US does not apply laws equally, criminal background checks on dating apps would systematically filter out groups of people that are already marginalized. She added that records use labels such as “sex offender” or “violent” but that often doesn’t explain anything about the person’s history.

Another reason to be wary of background checks: outdated or erroneous information is often included in public records and court documents. A 2005 study by the private screening company Intellisense Corp reported a 41% error rate in national databases.

The National Consumer Law Center found that with the adoption of technology such as algorithms and data scanning in background checks have given rise to a new set of problems including “false positives” and unverified information from third-party vendors.

Another cause for concern is how widely criminal procedures and laws vary by state and in some cases, by city. “I think that there’s a lot of opportunity for misunderstanding the seriousness of these things,” Lageson said.

Amid this uneven system of safety protocols, research shows that interpersonal relationships are key to successful re-entry for a formerly incarcerated person. Some see this move by Match Group as one more area of life where those who have had involvement with the legal system, like Jerrel Gantt, face barriers to success.

For decriminalization advocates such as Bertram, not further marginalizing people involved with the legal system. Bertram also pointed out that the risk of dating online is also present when meeting people in bars or other social settings.

“I think what we’re finding out here is that if you want to be 100% safe while dating strangers you often get pushed into these kinds of weird, bizarre scenarios where all of a sudden you’re looking at someone’s criminal background check and you’re flipping through the state penal code,” Bertram said.

“That’s just not really a solution that I think either makes sense or most people actually want.”

Dating apps have become more and more popular for adults trying to find their perfect match. The online dating industry was worth more than $3 billion in 2020, and, according to Global News, 53% of people lie on their dating profiles about anything from their age to their physical appearance or job/income. So, what else could they be lying about? Is it important to know someone's criminal history and how does that pertain to the online dating world?

What are Dating Apps?

According to eHarmony, 36% of Canadians use online dating, with the most popular age group being 18 to 36 year old’s. Dating apps are being taken more seriously as people have more of an interest in finding a committed partner.

Top 5 Most Used Dating Apps in Canada:

1. Bumble
2. Hinge
3. Tinder
4. eHarmony
5. Match.com

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Reasons to be Cautious on Dating Apps

Besides the fact that a large majority of people lie on their dating profiles, there can also be fake accounts. 1 in 10 accounts on dating sites are completely fake and have the potential to be a scam. Just like spam accounts on social media platforms, fake accounts exist on dating profiles and collect around $50 million a year. Online scams have become increasingly popular. The accounts are made to draw you in and swipe right to match so they can catfish or scam you. There are different ways to identify fake profiles.

Tips for identifying fake profiles:

1. The wording in the profile can appear robotic and disjointed. Pay close attention to the grammar used.
2. The photos might be filtered and appear to be someone else's. There have been many examples of people posing as celebrities, especially sports players.
3. Look at the social media profiles of the individual. A real profile usually includes links to their social media accounts. A lot of dating apps have now included the option to link Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat profiles so you can get a more in-depth view of the person.
4. Ask them about meeting up in person. If they seem to be avoiding it, it is more likely they are not a real person.

Another reason to be cautious is the dangers around meeting up with a stranger in person. People online are not always how they appear in person and there have been many examples over the years. It can vary from bad manners to people who are already married or in a relationship or even people who want to cause physical harm or assault. Sadly, there are some people who have bad intentions when dating online.

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Background Checks in Dating Apps

According to the Government of Canada, 3.8 million Canadians have a criminal record or approximately 1 in 10 people, which is a higher number than most people are aware of. What does that mean for online dating? What are the pros and cons of requiring background checks? Dating app background checks could help with some of the safety concerns.

There are many negatives around criminal records, and it can be atopic of embarrassment for some. It can be a difficult subject to bring up, especially with a potential partner.

There is a fear of judgment and rejection when disclosing your past, but the seriousness of a criminal record can vary from a less serious offences such as drug possession, to more serious offences like assault, making it more complicated than just saying someone has a criminal record.

If background checks are required within dating apps, how will this affect the industry itself?

Potential Drawbacks:

1. ‍Making sign-up more complicated.
   ‍Users enjoy the quick sign up and the ease of use when it comes to dating apps. It can be an easy way to meet people and a more casual way of dating. If a user is required to verify themselves and have a background check completed it will increase the number of steps it takes to create an account.
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2. ‍Reducing the number of users.
   ‍If sign-up becomes more complicated, individuals might be less likely to go through the process of creating an account. It can remove users with fake or harmful intentions but what about the people who just do not want to put in the effort of having a background check completed? Will the number of users on dating apps decrease if a background check is required?
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3. Unfair Judgement of Individuals.
   Are we quick to judge when it comes to criminal records? Should only certain convictions be required to be disclosed on dating apps or just dating websites? There is the potential for someone to be unfairly judged based on their past and this definitely needs to be taken into consideration when adding background checks as part of a dating app sign up process.

At the same time, there any many positives to having background checks in dating apps. In 2011, a woman was sexually assaulted by a man she met through a dating site.  He had been convicted of sexual assault six times before. The situation for online dating and sexual assault is statistically becoming worse. Background checks could help to reduce the number of violent interactions.  

Many other apps that result in a face-to-face meeting of a stranger, such as ride sharing and delivery apps, require a background check for their contractors. Dating apps are similar situations but in a romantic aspect. People are still meeting online and meeting up in person. Dating apps could be protecting their users the same as ride sharing and delivery organizations are.

Background Check Process

Different dating apps and websites have various requirements around background checks.

• Match.com requires a background check on all users.
• OkCupid and Plenty of Fish both have constant screening done of accounts that are reported and try to filter through and eliminate spam accounts.
• Other apps, such as Hinge, authenticate accounts through social media, while others give you the option to verify yourself through photo identification to let others know you are who you say you are.

Overall, dating apps have less security and systems in place to be able to protect their users, compared to other apps, and it is only beginning to pick up traction that these platforms are implementing processes to protect users.

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Recently, Tinder announced that they have partnered with a background check platform for users in the US, in order to create a safer environment. This will focus solely on people who with a history of violence that could put others at risk without the bias that comes with other charges, such as drug or traffic violations.

In Canada, a criminal record check can be completed online, within minutes and some background checking companies have an API first platform, allowing for the background check process to fit seamlessly into the dating app sign up process. Criminal record checks also require the individual to complete online ID verification, an added bonus to the dating app sign up process.

In general, security in dating apps and dating online needs to improve. The industry is constantly working to change the experience for users and create a safer environment. The best background check for dating apps is going to be the one that improves safety but doesn’t impact the overall user experience much.

Summary

Stanford University concluded that the number of couples who have met online has increased from 2% to 39% between 1995 and 2017. It has also become one of the most popular ways to meet a partner with a high long-term success rate.

But at the same time, what about the people who have had a negative experience that could have been avoided through background checks? Having a process in place for an online criminal record check and identity verification of users can prevent some of the issues dating apps have experienced in the past.

For more information on how easily background checks can be incorporated into an online or app sign up process, check out our article about best practices for the gig economy here.

If you’re interested in learning more about how ScreeningCanada can help you, reach out to one of our product experts here.

This week, Match Group, which owns the apps OkCupid, OurTime, Plenty of Fish, Match.com and Tinder, announced that it’s partnering with a nonprofit called Garbo to eventually allow users to do criminal background checks on potential dates.

The partnership will start with a pilot on Tinder later this year. The goal is to give users access to information that may indicate a history of violence or abuse.

But, as you can imagine, some privacy experts are concerned. 

This move is all about safety. According to Garbo founder Kathryn Kosmides, the idea is that before you go on a date, as long as you have a first name and a phone number, “you’ll see someone’s arrest data, conviction history, orders of protection, all public records and reports, especially around the reporting of violence.”

But with all that data just a few clicks away from a dating profile, some privacy experts are also concerned about accuracy.

“It’s really an admirable goal. The question is, are things like criminal records a good proxy for whether someone’s violent? And the problem is, they’re not,” said Michelle Richardson, with the Center for Democracy and Technology.

A lot of intimate-partner violence never gets reported in the first place. Plus, there’s a lot of discrimination in the criminal justice system.

Garbo founder Kosmides said the platform will leave out low-level traffic violations and minor drug crimes.

But according to Karen Levy, who teaches information science at Cornell, “We know that, you know, arrests are racially disproportionate for all kinds of crimes, right? Not just drug crimes.”

Levy said it’s easy to understand wanting to know whether a potential date has a history of violence. What’s harder is determining where one person’s right to safety infringes another person’s right to privacy.