Tinder is piloting a new featuring using facial recognition scans to verify profiles and increase security.
New users in California will now be mandated to take a video selfie during the app’s onboarding process which Tinder will compare against the user’s other photos to verify their profile is genuine.
The app will also check the scan against faces used on other accounts and provide verified profiles with a special badge.
Tinder will store a non-reversible, encrypted face map to detect duplications, according to Axios, which reported on the new feature.
“We see this as one part of a set of identity assurance options that are available to users,” Yoel Roth, head of trust and safety at Tinder’s parent company Match Group, told the outlet. “Face Check … is really meant to be about confirming that this person is a real, live person and not a bot or a spoofed account.”
The feature is already in use in Colombia and Canada, and California will be its first U.S. pilot market.
The stored facial data is deleted once a user deletes their profile, Tinder claims.
Computer and app users have long attempted to use fraudulent identities on public profiles, for purposes ranging from financial “romance scams” to full-blown, in-depth attempts at pretending to be someone else, a practice known as “catfishing.”
U.S. Justice Department and FBI officials told CBS News in 2024 that there were more than 64,000 romance scams in the U.S. the previous year.
The practice is common enough that it inspired a hit Netflix documentary about the “Tinder Swindler,” who is accused of using dating apps to swindle matches out of millions.
Tinder and its competitors have previously added features such as identification verification, real-time photo verification, and location-sharing to prevent safety issues.