Kara S Alaimo, Columnist

Dating Apps Aren’t Protecting You Or Your Data

Sex offenders go largely unscreened and your most personal information is being shared with advertisers.

February 14, 2020 at 1:00 PM UTC

Kara Alaimo is an associate professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is the author of “Over the Influence: Why Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls — and How We Can Take It Back.”

Ah, love. And now, the bad stuff.
Photographer: Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images

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Have you used psychedelic drugs? Would you ever consider an open marriage? Would you risk your life to protest against an unjust government? Would you like your answers to these questions, which have been posed to users of online dating site OkCupid, to be shared with other companies to profile you, or used to match you with registered sex offenders?

If your answer to the last questions are no, two new reports might have you deleting your profiles from major online dating sites like Grindr, Tinder, OkCupid and Plenty of Fish. (Happy Valentine’s Day!)