4 things to know about Tinder’s age restrictions

Teens are now prohibited from the dating app

Tinder has decided to abolish all users under 18 from the app. While the company didn’t really give any specific reasons (although safety probably topped the list), here are a few things to know about the new policy:

1. ‘[I]t wouldn’t be too surprising if safety was a driving force’

According to this article in Stuff:

Tinder Vice President of Communications Rosette Pambakian told Techcrunch that the company started reconsidering its age policy earlier this year, and that the move is the “right thing to do.” Here’s their full statement:

“On a platform that has facilitated over 11 billion connections, we have the responsibility of constantly assessing our different user experiences. Consistent with this responsibility, we have decided to discontinue service for under 18 users. We believe this is the best policy moving forward. This change will take effect next week.”

Although the statement doesn’t explicitly address the safety concerns that allowing adults and children to use the same dating app might raise, it wouldn’t be too surprising if safety was a driving force behind the decision.

2. Only a small percentage of Tinder’s user base will be affected

According to this article in Time:

This policy will impact less than 3% of Tinder’s user base. Rosette Pambakian, a Tinder spokeswoman, said the company has been reviewing the policy since early this year. One potential risk for minors is that sexual predators can create fake profiles to pass as a teenager. Other dating brands, such as OkCupid and Match.com, also enforce an adults-only restriction.

3. Teens might find ways to use it anyway

According to this article in the New York Post:

“Telling teenagers they can’t do something makes it 100 percent more desirable,” said Marian Salzman, a futurist and social-media expert who serves as CEO of Havas PR. “The automated hookup culture suddenly got more alluring,” she said.

Investors tended to agree, as the stock of Match Group, parent of Tinder, soared 5.2 percent on Thursday, to $14.71.

4. Teens might start turning to Craigslist instead

According to this article in Clapway:

The federal law, COPPA, which deals with this sort of thing, only puts Internet companies into question if their users are under the age of 14. Tinder found a loophole, but what about Craigslist? Teens of any age can Google Craigslist, click the “casual encounters” section of their city and there is only a simple, non-threatening warning. Then teens can click to their sexual preference without hesitation. Craigslist has had problems with this in the past. But Craigslist still exists, it’s free, and teens can easily use it.