Tinder Knows Some of You Are Just Trying to Get More Insta Followers

Tinder has recently announced it would be changing its Community Guidelines, and making tweaks to dating app profile rules, with a keen focus on “authenticity, inclusivity and respect,” it announced. In short, the app is making some changes to better prevent folks from using profiles as a way to rack up social media followers, as well as gently nudging users on some other problematic behaviours that can pop up from time to time.

Here’s what’s been announced and how things are set to change on the dating app.

Tinder Community Guideline update: What’s it all about?

Ehren Schlue, SVP of Member Strategy at Tinder, shared in a statement on the changes that:

“The majority of Tinder’s members are 18-25, and Tinder is often their first dating experience. To guide these younger daters as they start their dating journey, Tinder is using this policy refresh to remind and educate members about healthy dating habits — both online and in real life.”

Users should expect to be served a notification (if they haven’t already) about the below updates coming to the dating app.

Are you here for the right reasons?

To quote every reality dating show there is, Tinder is placing a focus on ensuring users are coming to the app for the right reasons — i.e. to date. It’s supremely frustrating to discover that your prospective date was only using their swipes to garner more followers on social media. It’s misleading, shitty behaviour, and Tinder has decided to call time on that by removing social handles from public bios.

This also stops people from sliding into your DMs rather than waiting to match with you on the app.

Tinder has also pointed out that in the name of authenticity, its Community Guidelines highlight that fake profiles, of any kind, are a huge no-no (don’t catfish, people), along with filing false reports against other users.

Keeping respect at the centre of the conversation

When it comes to respect, Tinder has shared three areas that it feels users should keep in mind when using the app.

Tinder shared the below policies from its Community Guidelines on this topic:

• Keep chats private: Conversations on Tinder are meant to be just that — conversations on Tinder. Unless they’ve been given consent, members should never post private chats they’ve had with matches.
• Respect boundaries: Comfort levels vary from person to person. To help members avoid oversharing, and decrease their risk of being removed from the app, Tinder is reminding members that they can use in-app features to be clear about their goals and relationship types, allowing them to start the conversation on the same page.
• Lead with kindness: Tinder members are looking for meaningful connections. Any acts or behaviour that suggests, intends, or causes harm to another member — either on or offline; physically or digitally — have no place on Tinder and will be taken very seriously.

Inclusivity matters 

Tinder’s Community Guideline updates also made a point to highlight that all people from all walks of life deserve a welcoming and safe dating experience.

It highlighted specifically that, “Tinder is not a place for hatred, bigotry, or violence, especially when it’s caused by how another member identifies or looks. Members who encounter others who don’t meet their personal criteria can choose not to match or unmatch, and move on.”

It did state, interestingly, that profiles should (in theory) be used for one person. It highlighted that folks in poly and open relationships are encouraged to create one profile for each partner and use Tinder’s Relationship Types features to list their dating preferences. Whether or not that works for everyone is another thing, but this is where the guidelines stand presently.

Reporting rule violations

Underlining all these Community Guideline updates is the message that Tinder wants you to report any behaviour that leaves you uncomfortable or anyone who is not following these rules.

Remember that you can always use Long Press Reporting to tap and hold offensive messages to initiate the reporting process. When it comes to the response to poor behaviour, Tinder shared that it will “take appropriate action depending on the severity of the report and if violations continue”.

You can read the full updated Community Guidelines here.