Tinder rolls out new safety features to tackle sexual violence but there's a catch

The growing rate of violence on the platforms sparked the federal government and dating apps to work to implement new safety measures to tackle sexual and domestic violence on the apps and if users meet up.

Tinder has announced a series of changes to the platform to put “control” front and centre of the app.

The app is introducing new features including “incognito mode” which is a “step up from fully hiding” a profile.

Users can swipe left and right but only those they like will see them in their recommendations.

The catch – this is only available to premium members who pay to use the app.

Block profile is a feature where users can block a profile before matching so that person doesn’t come up again.

“It’s an easy way to avoid seeing a boss or an ex. This new feature comes in addition to Block Contacts and blocking following making a report,” Tinder said.

Block contacts, which has previously been implemented, means users can go into their settings and put in which of their contacts they would rather not see or be seen by on the app.

Long press reporting means users can tap and hold offensive messages within a chat to report them to the app.

“By simplifying this flow, Tinder hopes more members will report bad behaviour, allowing it to take appropriate action against accounts that violate the Community Guidelines,” Tinder said.

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Modifications to the existing “does this bother you” and “are you sure?” features will widen how hate speech, sexual exploitation and harassment are categorised within the app.

The “are you sure” in-app alert pops up before a message is sent if Tinder’s artificial intelligence picks up inappropriate language – either overtly sexual or violent.

Tinder said the nudge is to make users reflect on whether it is appropriate to send the notification or not.

Meanwhile the “does this bother you” nudge is the flipside, encouraging users to report inappropriate conversations.

“Through education and information, our goal is to make Tinder the safest place to meet new people online,” Rory Kozoll from Tinder said.

Some of these changes are in line with recommendations by the AIC to make accessible and easy reporting processes and use artificial intelligence to censor abusive messages to prevent dating-app facilitated sexual violence.

The modifications come after the first roundtable between dating apps, state and federal government and domestic violence survivors was held in January to brainstorm new measures to make the highly popular platforms safer.

“We need the industry to improve their action, their transparency and their accountability,” communications minister Michelle Rowland said at the time.

Help is available from the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.