The new documentary Swiped: Hooking up in the Digital Age on HBO is a captivating exploration into the swift rise of dating apps. Director Nancy Jo Sales insightfully sifts through the cultural changes and foreseen dangers apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Grindr have ushered in.
Of course, having just filed reply papers in the 2nd circuit for our client’s case Matthew Herrick v. Grindr LLC (read all the case documents here), we were interested in hearing what dating app executives had to say about user safety.
While the point of these apps is to facilitate romantic offline encounters, many of these companies appear unwilling to accept the very, very real possibility that bad actors are using them to viciously harm others.
Out of all the interviews, the Bumble executive gave thoughtful insight into how they were careful to build a product that predicted the potential misuse of it by violent, abusive, or malicious users. The other execs, well, were not as candid.
Overall, Swiped offers a nuanced and honest discussion on the new dating behaviors that are an outgrowth of these apps’ popularity. Worth a watch!