When people sign up for a dating site like Tinder, they don\u2019t expect their profiles and personal information to be searchable \u2014 especially by a scorned lover, or worse. But that\u2019s what popular apps like Cheaterbuster or CheatEye seem to be doing under the guise of being able to \u201ccatch cheaters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, 404 Media<\/a> published a report about apps that apparently use facial recognition technology to trace dating profiles of private citizens as evidence that these partners are unfaithful. Many of these services charge a one-time fee to locate a Tinder profile with just a name or a photo of the person\u2019s face. (Some searches can run you $18 a transaction.) 404 Media tested their technology by running searches with consenting subjects and accurately located their dating profiles.<\/p>\n Without any context about why someone\u2019s Tinder profile may exist, these transactions lack nuance and normalize a dangerous practice, as almost every data and privacy scholar we spoke to warned against using them \u2014 some even making the case for them to be banned.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most insidious aspect is how these tools make peer-to-peer surveillance seem normal and acceptable,\u201d says cyber and privacy expert Heather Kuhn, an adjunct professor of the College of Law at Georgia State University who\u2019s also a senior privacy counsel at a software company. \u201cMarketing them through viral TikTok videos trivializes the act of biometric surveillance and conditions people to accept it as a solution to relationship problems.\u201d<\/p>\n When Tinder users upload their images and all their identifying info \u2014 like where they live, went to school, even the last live location they opened the app \u2014 they\u2019re not agreeing for it to be used in any other context outside of Tinder.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are agreeing to the platform\u2019s terms, not consenting to have their data scraped, indexed in a third-party database, and made searchable via their biometric data,\u201d says Kuhn.<\/p>\n Mark Weinstein, a tech advisor who\u2019s written several books advocating for safer practices online<\/a>, says these third-party apps are \u201cfrankly chilling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s marketed as \u2018cheater busting\u2019 is really just vigilante surveillance,\u201d Weinstein tells The Verge. And while apps like Cheaterbuster most likely do use facial recognition tools to locate dating profiles, they can also use a litany of public data to cross-reference names, age, and locations \u201cto build shadow databases of dating profiles that Tinder never meant to be public,\u201d Weinstein explains. \u201cIt\u2019s mass data mining, connecting the dots on people without their consent.\u201d<\/p>\n Some experts are shocked that Tinder hasn\u2019t sought retribution against them yet. \u201cIt seems like it violates the app\u2019s terms of service, so from that perspective, should it exist?\u201d poses Marshini Chetty, a University of Chicago professor who teaches courses on usable privacy and security. \u201cYou\u2019re doing something the company is not condoning \u2014 I guess I\u2019m wondering why it hasn\u2019t been shut down.\u201d<\/p>\n Tinder did not immediately respond to our request for comment. Apps like Cheaterbuster and CheatEye also have not responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n \u201cThis technology is typically between 90% and 99% accurate, with top algorithms hitting 99% on high-quality images but dropping closer to 90% in real-world or lower-quality conditions,\u201d says Weinstein, citing Bipartisan Policy Center\u2019s statistics<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s a big spread allowing for a lot of mistakes.\u201d (Facial recognition technology also disproportionately misidentifies people of color<\/a>, experts warn.)<\/p>\n A blurry selfie can easily produce a false positive result, which will open people up to a slew of messy and even violent encounters between romantic partners. Irrespective of worst-case scenarios with stalkers and abusers, apps like these prey on the very worst of our human tendencies.<\/p>\n \u201cIt thrives on suspicion and doubt. For a relatively low monthly fee, it offers an answer \u2014 or the illusion of one \u2014 to a deeply emotional question,\u201d says Kuhn. \u201cEven if it only works some of the time, the viral marketing and the emotional reward for a hit are enough to sustain the business.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCatch a cheater\u201d apps may also violate already established data privacy policies, specifically Europe\u2019s GDPR<\/a>, or General Data Protection Regulation policy which was instated in 2018 to protect user data across the EU. \u201cIn Europe, apps like this certainly violate GDPR, which gives people clear rights over how their personal data and images are collected, stored, and used,\u201d says Weinstein.<\/p>\n In the US, however, privacy laws are slow to introduce and pass. And while there is no federal protection for how your personal data is collected or used, there are new regional bills that do give consumers some rights to their data and likenesses online. One expert flagged California\u2019s CCPA landmark ruling, or the California Consumer Privacy Act<\/a>, which gives people rights to know about how their data is being used or to be able to delete their data.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat can be done? Legislative action is truly the only solution that fixes this mess,\u201d says Weinstein. \u201cThe good news is that there are promising bipartisan efforts well underway, including COPPA 2.0, which would extend online privacy protections to everyone under 18, and the American Privacy Rights Act (APRA), which would give all Americans control over how their data is collected, shared, and sold. These bills must immediately be elevated to the forefront of Congress\u2019s legislative agenda and passed, then signed by President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n While Trump did sign the Take It Down Act earlier this year, which requires sites to remove nonconsensual deepfakes and other lewd images within 48 hours of a request, there are no indications that he will sign or further prioritize these issues. And given the government shutdown, which seems to only be dragging on, we can\u2019t hold our breaths for these efforts to pass anytime soon.<\/p>\n Whether these apps are effective in proving adultery or locating the dating profiles of people who are in committed relationships, they will cause a cascade of new and worsening problems for romantic partners \u2014 all while normalizing surveillance and otherwise unhealthy and dangerous cyber practices. In an era of blindly following tech trends and innovations, giving up our anonymity for opportunity<\/a>, our right to privacy is slipping away from us every day.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone should have some basic expectation of privacy,\u201d Chetty states, especially when you\u2019re submitting your photos and information for dating purposes only.<\/p>\n \u201cI recommend people try to resolve their relationships without resorting to these apps,\u201d she adds. \u201cMaybe they should question if they should be in the relationship if they\u2019re using this service in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n Follow topics and authors<\/strong> from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.<\/p>\n\n