That dating app profile you're swiping on may not be human
Watch the CBSN Originals documentary, "Speaking Frankly: Dating Apps," in the video player above.
Steve Dean, an online dating consultant, says the person you just matched with on a alleging the company "unfairly exposed consumers to the risk of fraud and engaged in other allegedly deceptive and unfair practices." The suit claims that Match.com took advantage of fraudulent accounts to trick non-paying users into purchasing a subscription through email notifications. Match.com denies that occurred, and in a press release stated that the accusations were "completely meritless" and "supported by consciously misleading figures."
As the technology becomes more sophisticated, some argue new regulations are necessary. "It's getting increasingly difficult for the average consumer to identify whether or not something is real," says Kunze. "So I think we need to see an increasing amount of regulation, especially on dating platforms, where direct messaging is the medium."
Currently, only California has passed a law that attempts to regulate bot activity on social media. The B.O.T. ("Bolstering Online Transparency") Act requires bots that pretend to be human to disclose their identities. But Kunze believes that even though it's a necessary step, it's hardly enforceable.
"This is very early days in terms of the regulatory landscape, and what we think is a good trend because our position as a company is that bots must always disclose that they're bots, they must not pretend to be human," Kunze says. "But there's absolutely no way to regulate that in the industry today. So even though legislators are waking up to this issue, and just starting to really scratch the surface of how severe it is, and will continue to be, there's not a way to control it currently other than promoting best practices, which is that bots should disclose that they are bots."
"How can you work effectively if you're facing 11 lawsuits?"
Woman selling churros at NYC subway station arrested
2 killed in car that crashed into office building's 2nd floor
