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Tinder Will Allow Users To Run Criminal Background Checks On Matches

Source: NurPhoto / Getty

A new Tinder feature will allow you to make sure your potential love connection isn’t a straight-up creep or has a violent history. 

Per CNN, Tinder users will now have the ability to check matches’ criminal background records. The new feature directly results from a partnership between Match Group, Tinder’s parent company, and Garbo, a non-profit organization that focuses on “gender-based violence awareness and prevention” and provides criminal background checks. The update comes on the heels of Match Group’s seven-figure investment into Garbo.

Tinder users can use the new feature by entering match’s personal information like first and last name, phone number, age, date of birth, zodiac sign, and zip code. Once that info is supplied, Garbo will run a thorough background check. Tinder users who subscribed to the online dating app can run background checks for free. Non-Tinder subscribers will have to pony up $2.50, and for Garbo credits, that will allow you to run background checks.

This is a fantastic idea on paper, but there are always concerns users can abuse it. Per CNN’s reporting, the new feature allows users to be comfortable with potential matches. “They’re either a cautious person and searching everyone, or they have a gut feeling about someone,” said Kathryn Kosmides, the founder of Garbo and a survivor of gender-based violence.

The feature comes at a time when online dating has become even more popular due to the pandemic and people trying other ways to connect with people. If this new feature becomes successful and is something Tinder users find beneficial in their online dating adventures, we won’t be surprised if other dating apps like Bumble, Grindr, The League, and BLK also introduce something similar.

The new feature begins rolling out this week.

Photo: NurPhoto / Getty