Match Group, the corporate giant behind popular dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid, has known for years about sexual predators on its platforms but failed to adequately warn or protect millions of women, according to an 18-month investigation.
The Markup reports that an 18-month investigation by the Dating Apps Reporting Project has uncovered that Match Group, the $8.5 billion company controlling half of the world’s online dating market, has been aware for years of reports of rape, drugging, and assault by users across its suite of dating apps. However, the company has failed to transparently share the scale of this problem with the public or take adequate steps to protect its millions of users, especially women.
Internal documents show that as early as 2016, Match Group began tracking users reported for serious offenses like rape across all of its apps. By 2022, its central database called Sentinel was collecting hundreds of troubling incidents every week, according to company insiders. Yet Match Group never released a promised transparency report that would have revealed the extent of sexual violence occurring on and off its platforms.
Even when users like Denver cardiologist Stephen Matthews were repeatedly reported for rape on apps like Hinge, they were allowed to keep creating new profiles and matching with unsuspecting women. At least 15 women eventually reported that Matthews, who had no prior criminal record, raped or drugged them after meeting on Match Group apps. He was sentenced to 158 years in prison in 2024.
Match Group hired Tracey Breeden in 2020 to lead its central safety team and improve its response to sexual violence. However, former employees say that under pressure to maintain growth, the company resisted spreading strong safety protocols and skilled investigators across all of its apps. Most of Breeden’s team was eventually laid off or pushed out.
The company touts superficial safety features but has fought efforts both inside and outside the company to meaningfully change how it handles abusive users. Its current systems allow those reported for rape, like Matthews, to easily create new accounts just by changing a few details.
Match Group now faces increasing scrutiny from lawmakers worldwide who are demanding more transparency about the scale of sexual violence on its platforms. But in the U.S., users are still largely in the dark about the risks they face when matching with a stranger. The investigation report claims the company that has brought millions of couples together has built an opaque system that allows dangerous individuals to keep finding new targets, leaving a trail of trauma in their wake with little accountability.
Read more at the Markup here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
