Tinder have announced that they are preventing anyone under 18 from using the dating app, due to concerns over child safety and children below the age of consent having access to the app.
Currently, Tinder is available to anyone with a Facebook account, which sets its age requirements at 13 years old. While, the dating app does run a separate search for users aged 13- 17 and restricts those under the age of 17 from speaking to 18+ adults, The Telegraph reports that the app has long been criticised for failing to enforce its own age restrictions.
After re-evaluating their policy and considering their responsibility to the app’s users and the protection of children, Tinder have decided to discontinue the under 18s service, intended to allow children to make new friends. According to a Tinder spokesperson, less than 3% of the 50 million-strong user base will be affected by the change.
However, despite this new policy coming into effect next week, Tinder have not specified how it will monitor and verify its users’ ages in the future. As it stands, there is nothing preventing someone lying about their age on Facebook and subsequently having access to the dating app.
Children’s charities such as the NSPCC insist that social media firms have a responsibility to protect children and their younger users, suggesting 'there needs to be robust age verification tools across all platforms.'
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.