Checking out a potential partner’s past before actually meeting in real life is about to get a little easier. Match Group is expanding Tinder’s free background checks to two other dating apps it owns. Match (formerly Match.com) and Stir, a dating site for single parents, will now be getting the service.
It will work similar to the way it does on Tinder:
- People will be able to use the background check to see if the person they’re chatting with or plan to meet up with has a history of “violent and harmful behavior,” as the company puts it.
- When users are talking to someone about meeting up, a box will pop up to ask if they want to run a background check.
- Users will then be forwarded to Garbo, the service that actually runs the background checks.
- The user will have to provide the info about the person they’re trying to run the check on, like their first and last names, birthday, phone number and location. Match won’t provide that personal info to users.
- Similar to Tinder’s payment structure, regular users will be able to run two background checks for free and will have to pay for additional ones. Premium subscribers will get four freebies.
Something to keep in mind is that while background checks can be a helpful tool, getting an all clear from an app doesn’t mean you should automatically trust them. There’s no guarantee the background check will catch everything and Match Group says Garbo’s results are “nuanced” - they look at things like arrests, convictions and sex offender registry, but won’t necessarily flag things that “have a disproportionate impact on marginalized groups.”
Source: The Verge