Changes to dating app rules
Dating apps have pledged to do more to ban abusive Australian users and escalate safety complaints to police faster under a new code of practice.
The biggest online dating companies have adopted the code after the federal government held talks with them last year and warned of tougher laws and regulations.
Under the code, each dating platform must roll out systems to better detect harmful behaviour and improve users’ safety.
As well as terminating accounts of abusive users and banning them across multiple apps, the companies must “proactively escalate” complaints to police when there’s an “imminent threat to the safety of a complainant”.
Apps will also need to follow a new compliance system, with reporting and safety ratings of the platforms published.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the code was the first of its kind in Australia for the online dating industry.
“Online dating is now the most common way to meet a partner in Australia,” she said.
“These services did not develop overnight. The lack of action over the last decade means that regulation has not kept pace with technology.”
Rowland expects the companies to have the code of practicefully operational by October.
While the code is voluntary, the government will review it in nine months to determine if more regulation is needed.
Alarming rates of sexual violence among dating app users
The federal government demanded dating apps improve their safety measures last year after research showed alarming numbers of dating app users experiencing sexual violence.
A 2022 Australian Institute of Criminology study found 72.3 per cent of dating app users had experienced online sexual violence over the previous five years.
One in three users had been subjected to sexual violence after meeting in person. One in four had been sexually assaulted or coerced, the study found.
Millions of Australians use dating apps, with Tinder the most popular with around two in three Australians having used it.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the code would improve safety for Australians on dating apps and help users make choices about which ones they use.
She said “dating app violence is a form of gender-based violence, and it has to end”.
“Everyone deserves to live a life free of violence no matter where they are – and this includes online,” she said.
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