Can A Dating App Be Sued If The Date Becomes A Threat?
Living in a highly digitalized society, finding, and meeting new people offline, is very hard, hence, the concept of dating apps is increasing day by day. Considering the safety of dating apps like Hinge, Grinder, Tinder, Plenty of Fish, eHarmony, OKCupid, and Bumble, there are many questions raised about their security standards.
These apps allow any user to create a profile, without the latter’s criminal background check. So what should you do when your date becomes dangerous or is there any way to sue these apps?
The answer is that the Communications Decency Act bars the liability of any dating app that creates harm to a person by a third-party user. Under the negligence theory of tort law, the duty to take care, only exists, when the parties accommodate a special relationship.
Analyzing the relationship between App users and the Dating app
When Match.com matched Wade Riley and Kay Beckman, Wade viciously beat and stabbed Beckman. Beckman filed a lawsuit against Match.com. The victim argued that it was the duty of Match to warn her regarding the danger involved in her date, but the courts did not agree to this argument.
Instead, the courts explained that there was no special relationship between Beckman and Match.com, hence duty to take care, warn or duty to protect, does not lie on Match.com.
Hence, the Ninth Circuit ruling determined there is no existing special relationship between the dating app user and the app itself.
Unfortunately, dating apps have no actual knowledge!
Dating apps are formed in such a way that they will not find knowledge about their users, through any of their ways.
The duty to warn exists only when the app is aware of users found guilty of committing violent acts, and only that can raise the level of foreseeable harm in future for the other users. In the case of Beckham, Match was unaware of the criminal history of Ridley, which included battery, and domestic violence, for about ten years.
How safe are you on a dating app?
In 2023, a Pew Research poll on women under 50 years of age shared that:
- 11% of them received harmful threats
- 37% received offensive names for them
- 56% were given sexually explicit images or messages in an unwelcome manner
- 43% received unwanted texts, even when shown disinterest in the person who is texting.
In 2022, the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) reported that generally, most sexual assault acts happen on the first in-person date. 60% of polled Americans think that criminal background checks must be conducted by these dating platforms, before creating a profile.
What measures and laws protect you from assault?
- Avoid scams, by not giving personal and confidential information about your banking and contact details.
- Avoid catfishing, where fake profiles are created to harm you.
- Do not let your date pick or drop you off use your transportation
- Never choose remote locations, instead choose public places
- Let your family or friends know where and when you are returning back
- Listen to your gut feeling and look for red flags
- Search the name of your date on the registered sex offenders list in your area, on the government’s Public Sex Offender Registry
- Call 911 when you feel unsafe
- If physically injured, then immediately get medical help
- Keep DNA evidence such as skin underneath fingernails or clothing
- Make a police complaint immediately
- Seek resources for emotional wellbeing and proper counselling
Seeking a legal advisor or personal injury attorney locally can also help you. These experts can help share insights on secure protective orders, against the assailant, and can even successfully help you with proper compensation. Also, if you have been hurt psychologically or physically, then your attorney can get you reimbursement for your suffering and pain. For the future, know the red flags, on online dating apps to protect yourself.
