Is Personal Data Safe With Dating Companies?

Remember the old days of dating? Plucking up the courage to ask out your crush, or chatting someone up in a bar? Both ways were fraught with awkwardness and potential embarrassment. Then came internet dating.

The primary advantage to internet dating is anonymity; users can build up a rapport with someone they like outside the public domain, enabling them to flirt with freedom. Their profile is secure, and nobody outside will be able to identify them.

Or so you might think. In reality, dating sites are very much in the information business the same as many other forms of social media, and they mine information in the same way as Facebook and Twitter.

Dating Platforms as a Business Model

Dating sites such as Tinder and Bumble request that users allow access to their Facebook accounts when setting up their accounts; this allows the platforms to gain a great deal of information about the user, such as their age, location, interests, employment, socio-economic status and friends network.

Facebook also has a record of who's downloaded these dating sites, so that they in turn can collect information on a person’s marital status and whether they are actively looking for a partner.

Furthermore, many dating sites such as Tinder, PlentyOfFish, OkCupid, Match.com, and Ablo are owned by the same company: Match Group, Inc. Female-friendly dating site Bumble is also owned by the co-founder of Tinder, Whitney Wolfe Herd.

If you're dating online, you would naturally expect your identity to be kept secret. GDPR legislation requires dating sites to request your explicit permission to access personal information such as contacts or Facebook friends, but using these sites is nigh on impossible without doing so.

Disseminating your personal information publicly without your permission is obviously forbidden, but it happens. In the same way that Facebook was responsible for a major leak during the Cambridge Analytica scandal, blackmailers were also able to target the online dating site Ashley Madison.

The Ashley Madison Scandal

This particular dating site was of interest to hackers as it contained the personal data of individuals who were looking to conduct extra-marital affairs. Some 30 million users were affected by the breach, with names, phone numbers, and credit card details being included in the vast data dump.

While it's tempting to feel a certain amount of schadenfreude towards those who had their attempts at infidelity so publicly exposed, it doesn't mean that you're immune if you use Bumble.

The GDPR places the burden of responsibility for keeping customers’ data safe on the data controller, in this case, the dating site. However, hackers looking to exploit data have no such qualms about obtaining data through fair means or foul, and once your data has been compromised, it's out there.

Dating Site Controversies and Public Perception

Nor are dating sites themselves innocent of sharp practices: in 2019, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued Match Group, alleging that they were touting fake profiles to encourage people to subscribe to their paid services on match.com. As well as duping users into parting with money to communicate with fake profiles, it also left them open to scammers who could harvest their data for criminal purposes.

As a result, a recent survey by SurveyMonkey showed that 56 percent of dating site users had misgivings about online dating, and only six percent of users trusted dating sites to protect their data. So why do people compromise themselves so often on dating sites?

Surely Bumble is Safe?

Those looking for a more respectful and safe form of dating often go to Bumble to meet new people, as its format gives female users the sole choice in whether to contact potential matches.

However, that’s just the fluffy side of the platform and it’s there to monetize users like any other; for male users, it's very difficult to get a match without taking out a subscription. A recent study by the firm Independent Security Evaluators (ISE) discovered that hacking Bumble to obtain personal information was quite easy.

Reviewing your Data on Bumble

With the plethora of permissions that most users of Bumble need to grant to be able to use even the most basic features, it’s vital to consider your personal security when using the site.

Some things are obvious: don’t give out financial information to anyone you might meet, and don't send money. For safety, don't give personal details such as your full name, address, or telephone number until you are sure about a person, and don't meet alone.

However, it's just as important to review the amount of data Bumble hold on you. Remember: if you can't work out what the product is on social media, it's because it's you. Even if you don't take out a subscription to Bumble, they still have access to your personal data.

Under the GDPR, you have the right to alter your permissions and ask them to delete any or all data that you don't want them to have. You may not think that they hold anything worth deleting, but you may be surprised.

The first stage is to make a Subject Access Request (SAR), a request for your information to the company. Bumble will need to provide the information within 30 days, and once you have decided what data you want to delete, they have one calendar month to delete it.

In exceptional circumstances, they can request an extra two months to provide you with the information or delete it, but they have to ask your permission.

This may seem daunting, and organizations like Bumble make it that way for a reason. However, at Rightly we have the tools to do the legwork for you so that you can easily make a bumble data request.

Use online dating apps like Bumble by all means, but never lose sight of what they want from you and always exercise your right to data security.

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