Tinder to require video selfies to verify user IDs as dating-app crime, AI use surge
NY Post
Tinder said Tuesday it plans to expand its ID verification requirements – including one that asks users to submit a video selfie – as crime on dating apps rises and artificial intelligence makes it harder to tell who is real.
The world’s most popular dating app said the new features – slated to launch across the US, UK, Mexico, and Brazil in the coming weeks and months – will require users to submit a valid driver’s license or passport in addition to the video selfie in order to obtain a blue verification checkmark.
In response, the new system checks the birth date and whether the face on the video matches the profile pictures and ID.
Tinder said it has successfully tested the process in Australia and New Zealand, where newly verified users got 67% more matches than those who opted out.
A unit of Match Group, Tinder said it first tested the feature in Japan in 2019, but a surge in date crime has recently made the technology rollout more urgent.
Nearly 70,000 individuals disclosed falling victim to a romance scam in 2022, with recorded financial losses reaching $1.3 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Nineteen percent of the scams started on dating apps, the agency said.
