Tinder will soon start offering ID verification. What changes, then?
Twitter halted its account verification process but popular dating app Tinder has begun rolling out a similar idea called ID verification. Using this, Tinder users can show the platform a government or official ID to verify that they are the person they claim to be on Tinder. The feature debuted in Japan in 2019 and will be rolled out worldwide in the "coming quarters".
Tinder already sports an algorithm-powered photo verification feature so new users can confirm that the uploaded pictures are theirs. This works using the selfie camera and asking the users to pose in specific ways. The photo verification feature awards profiles with a Twitter-style blue tick badge. A similar, separate badge will be appended to users' profiles upon successful ID verification.
The new safety-centric ID verification feature was unveiled in Japan in 2019. Users were mandated by Japanese law to verify that they were at least 18 years old. When ID verification rolls out in the coming quarters, it will begin as a voluntary feature, Tinder claimed in a blog post. The feature will not be voluntary in regions where government ID verification is mandatory.
It will use ID verification to cross-reference data such as the sex offender registry in regions where the information is accessible. Tinder reassured users that ID verification would be done free of charge for all users. Notably, the company already cross-checks users' credit card information against offender databases, but the downside is that free users remain unchecked since Tinder operates on a freemium model.
Tinder's biggest challenge is that verification tools are voluntary and the app's users must take the onus to verify themselves or be comfortable interacting with unverified, potentially dangerous users. Meanwhile, Tinder already has safety features such as Bio Guidance to prevent people from uploading confidential data to their bios and Traveler Alert so LGBTQ+ users can hide their profile when traveling to unfriendly communities.
