Privacy on Tinder: Swipe Right to Learn More.

I’ve been in an open, toxic, love-hate relationship with Tinder since sometime in 2014. As if the world of dating weren’t awful enough in real life, why not add wading through the thigh-high swamp water of the internet to it?
It’s fairly recent that Tinder started advertising to users. My ads started with upcoming movies, featuring a handsome leading man as if he were a user (What? Channing Tatum is in my area? Swipe right!). Now they showcase an item on the profile. Like these boots? Swipe right for a code for 10% off! I must sadly agree with Taddicken’s hypothesis and say users like myself accept ads like this because the social relevance of online dating trumps the desire for more privacy in one’s dating life. Users like myself likely fall into the category of people with a predisposed personality for some degree of self-disclosure. In order to try dating apps, one must accept a certain amount of self-disclosure and vulnerability with what you share in order to get matches and dates. However, most users also want to retain some degree of privacy and anonymity, as the murky waters of dating can become hazardous fairly quickly, especially for women. Finding the balance between trust, disclosure, and privacy is incredibly difficult in this sort of environment.

 

As Fuchs discusses, most literature dealing with online privacy puts the user on the hook for disclosing information. Any consequences are the fault of the user oversharing and not protecting themselves. We see this when women are harassed online, and blamed for just existing on the internet in the first place. Don’t like getting harassed? Don’t use the service. I agree with Fuchs’s assessment that this ignores the societal need for information technology. But the information shared on Tinder, no matter how personal or intimate, is bought and sold at the same rate as your Facebook interests (possibly even more considering the personal nature). Fact is, online dating has become a normal and acceptable way that millions meet and find relationships. We’ve put our romantic lives online, now for the profit of advertisers.

 

Adding the very personal and intimate information in to the mix of the behavioral tracking online that Kovacs discusses puts users in a pretty scary situation. Having the most personal of information people might discuss in Tinder conversations as fuel for advertising items back at them on Facebook oversteps the bounds of what I feel comfortable with as a user. Ultimately, Tinder matches are unpredictable strangers, and someone can quickly lead a conversation to a topic I don’t want to discuss. In another example, my Tinder matches often show up in my Facebook “People You May Know.” This really makes me uneasy because a Tinder match is far from a Facebook friend (supporting Taddicken’s discussion of levels and dimensions of disclosure). My Facebook, after more than 10 years with the service, is like my own home. I’m careful who I let in.

 

Nonetheless, I continue swiping for the time being, because, as Taddicken emphasizes, our behaviors don’t always match our awareness of risk.