Tinder adds new panic button to increase user safety

In this day and age, there’s a serious issue with people not understanding what the word “no” means, or in guilting someone into doing something and calling it consent (it’s actually blackmail). And sometimes when dating, a person can just give off a bad energy in how they speak, or they can display problematic tendencies that someone just doesn’t feel right about. 

I’ve had some unfortunate experiences of my own when it comes to online dating. On one occasion, a man got violently upset with me; I agreed to get coffee with him, something that seems innocent enough, but he had some choice words for me after I said “yes” that were absolutely baffling. 

What would happen if I did follow through with that date? Would I have been in serious danger?

Popular app Tinder is making strides to combat this by adding a “panic button” in case someone does not feel safe during a date or hookup. 

The app is following in the footsteps of Uber after they added a similar feature in the previous months. The Tinder button comes with the assistance of Noonlight, which is another app that notifies authorities and provides a person’s location when they’re in an unsafe situation. Users will have to download both apps in order to utilize the button. This is meant to push users to get the help they need discreetly without raising suspicion during the date. 

Tinder also introduced new anti-catfishing measures. Users with a blue checkmark have passed a verification test, according to The Verge, in which users “take a selfie in real time that matches a pose shown by a model in a sample image.” The Tinder community team then verifies. 

As of right now, these features are only available to Tinder users in the U.S. Other sites owned by the same conglomerate as Tinder, such as Plenty of Fish, Hinge, and OkCupid, are projected to add these features to their apps as well.

These features are extremely important to have as there is a serious issue in our culture where rape and abuse happens to millions of people every day. If a person has an unnatural temper, is too handsy and a person isn’t comfortable with it, or, unfortunately, something much worse happens, these additions aid users in getting them the help they deserve. Eventually, and hopefully, these actions will help end the idea that consent is not needed. 

It is very reassuring to see that dating apps like these are keeping safety in mind for their users; it just makes one wish more companies would have the same mindset. 

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