Data-hungry dating apps are worse than ever for your privacy.” This is the headline in English with which the Mozilla Foundation, dedicated to promoting privacy, inclusion and decentralization online, opens its report on the state of mobile software dedicated to connecting people looking for a relationship. 88% of the applications studied, a total of 22 out of 25, have been qualified by this organization as “privacy not included”, a label that it gives to applications that it considers do not meet a reasonable standard of data protection for users. its users.
The report, in addition to a general conclusion, includes a detailed study of the way each app handles personal data. The vast majority, 80% according to Mozilla, “share or sell your personal information and do not guarantee all users the right to delete their data”. In this case they cite Match Group, which includes Tinder among others, and which has more than 40 different dating apps that can share information with each other about their users “for reasons that include marketing and advertising.”
The Mozilla Foundation claims that “Tinder is pretty bad for your privacy and security”. The text details some of the problems in the past, such as the leak of 70,000 photos of women in 2020 or the doubts raised by its photo verification without proper consent from users to process their biometric information.
“Match Group’s shaky track record makes us a little nervous about its eagerness to enter the privacy minefield posed by the integration of AI. This is something that we will monitor closely”, comment the authors of the Mozilla report, who claim that Tinder can know the geolocation of a user even when he is not using the app.
Another popular app among the gay community is Grindr. Last year The Washington Post published that a Catholic group in the United States bought data from Grindr to monitor some of its members. Mozilla gives it one of its lowest scores.
Zoë MacDonald, researcher and one of the authors of the report, points out that users perceive the bad practices of this type of apps and rebel. “If dating apps believe that people keep handing over their most intimate details – basically everything but their mother’s maiden name – without finding love, they’re underestimating their users. Their predatory practices in matters of privacy are a decisive factor”.
There are indications that dating apps are becoming less popular. A Pew Research study published last year concluded that only three out of ten adults have ever used such a platform or app, a figure that has stagnated since 2019.
Dating apps are struggling to attract the young generation Z, who are now coming of age. Last month The New York Times reported that the two largest groups that share this market, Match Group and Bumble have lost more than $40 billion in market value since 2021. Both last year brought in about 4,200 millions of dollars through subscriptions, but if the audience they could grow with is not willing to pay, then the problems begin, because the income can only be maintained if the prices are raised.
The new grail, of course, is AI. Most apps plan to take advantage of it to boost the user experience. Grindr even projects a ChatGPT-style chatbot that uses sexually explicit language. Mozilla has also encountered problems with this usage.
