Tinder and Hinge in India: screenshot block and mandatory selfie to fight fake profiles

The dating apps Tinder and Hinge are tightening their safety features in India. As Yoel Roth, senior vice president and head of trust and safety at parent company Match Group, told the business daily Business Standard (report of 21 October), Hinge profiles can already no longer be captured by screenshot, and Tinder is getting the same block. "We heard a lot of concern, especially from women in India," Roth said. According to the reports, the background is concern that dating profiles are being shared without permission. Users can also block contacts from their phone's address book so that, for example, family, acquaintances or colleagues do not see their profile.

Both apps now also require biometric verification by video selfie at sign-up. The aim is to detect AI-generated profiles, duplicate accounts and accounts linked to criminals. An initial analysis found that the number of bad actors on Tinder and Hinge fell by 40 percent, Roth said; according to the portal The420.in, the company described this as an early internal indicator rather than a long-term measure. Match Group says it spends about 125 million dollars a year on safety across its platforms. These figures cannot be independently verified.

Against romance scams, the company is relying on warnings: the apps are to flag when a match quickly pushes to move to another messenger or promises high investment returns within minutes. Together with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, which reports to India's Ministry of Home Affairs, Match Group is launching an awareness campaign on scam tactics, red flags and official reporting channels. Roth also sees a trend towards more social dating: "Increasingly, we also see that GenZ singles really want dating to be a social experience." Tinder already offers double dates and a feature that lets friends pick matches; the Events feature launched in Los Angeles and other US cities is set to come to India soon.