As law enforcement agencies warn of a rise in the number of incidents of sexual assault after online dating they have to investigate, a Tinder spokesperson says letting friends and family know the details of your date “should be part of your ‘date ready checklist'”.
By Mickey Carroll, science and technology reporter
Tinder is adding a new safety feature to the app, so online daters can let friends and families know where they are.
The ‘Share My Date’ feature allows users to share the location, time and a photo of their match.
More than one in 10 online adults in the UK use dating apps, according to Ofcom, and Tinder is the most popular, with nearly 2.5 million adults using it in the UK.
Although a huge number of people now date online, there are still safety concerns when it comes to swiping right, ranging from scams to stalking and even sexual assault.
Nearly a quarter of online daters experience digital stalking, according to research from the cyber security firm Kapersky, with 10% admitting their location had been tracked and another 10% reporting their social media accounts or emails had been hacked.
As police are given new powers to tackle stalking, Sky’s Tamara Cohen spoke to one woman who was stalked for eight years by someone she never met.
“There were missed phone calls, text messages,” she said. “Then I started noticing things like criminal damage to my car and my property. I lived every day in fear. This person was infiltrating themselves into my life and my network.”
The number of young people being sexually assaulted after meeting online dates has risen in recent years, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) suggests.
Out of incidents it has been asked to investigate involving women aged 19 and under, the proportion of reports involving sexual assault after an online date rose by more than 80% in six years (83%), according to the agency in 2022.
The proportion of incidents of this type involving men rose by nearly a quarter (24%).
New measures have been announced to make it easier for police to protect victims of stalking, after ministers admitted too many are slipping through the net.
Overall, the number of sexual assaults the NCA has been asked to investigate has remained “fairly stable”.
“Anyone dating online should be aware of the potential dangers, so they can be better prepared and make the choices that are right for them,” said NCA’s Louise Vesely-Shore at the time.
‘Date-ready checklist’
Letting friends and family know who you are meeting and where can make your dates safer and sharing details of your plans “should be part of your ‘date-ready checklist’,” said Paul Brunson, Tinder’s Global Relationships Insight Expert.
A lot of people already share their date details with friends and family. According to Tinder, more than half of under-30s tell their friends where they’ll be and when, and one in five tell their mum.
Tinder is keen to make this feature part of the fun of meeting someone new.
“Discussing plans with friends and family is a time-honoured dating ritual,” said Tinder’s chief marketing officer Melissa Hobley.
“Share My Date streamlines this basic info-sharing so singles can jump right to the exciting part.”
Share My Date will roll out across the UK, US, Australia and more in the coming months.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
