Singapore – Online dating app Bumble has joined hands with AWARE, a women’s rights and gender equality advocacy group in Singapore, in a global safety initiative to create a safer online dating experience.
The newly formed partnership will provide AWARE with a way to help and protect Bumble’s community by removing potentially harmful individuals from its app.
AWARE is a non-government organisation (NGO) that works directly with victim-survivors of sexual violence and technology-facilitated abuse such as discrimination and hate speech.
Through this partnership, AWARE will be onboarded on a platform that provides a pathway to a tip line for organisations to report harmful or dangerous individuals to Bumble’s dedicated Member Safety team. These individuals, if found to be attempting to use the app, will receive a warning from Bumble or even have their profiles removed from the platform.
Bumble’s reporting pathway is powered by Kodex, a secure information-sharing portal. Kodex is currently employed by the dating app to communicate with law enforcement agencies around the world.
The new tip line hosts NGOs and charities that work with victim-survivors. They are housed separately from any law enforcement communications. With this, it mitigates the burden placed on victim-survivors to report these harms while ensuring that dangerous individuals are proactively removed from the Bumble platform.
Currently, the process is only open to NGOs and charitable organisations. However, individuals can still report a dangerous or harmful individual to Bumble through its in-app reporting mechanism, online contact form, or through the app’s social support function.
The partnership is a way for Bumble to strengthen its commitment to promoting the safety of its users. The online dating app is continuing to build on its safety policies and features with the continued development of its safety handbook and the relaunch of its in-app Safety and Wellbeing Centre.
Bumble also developed safety features like the Private Detector, which automatically blurs potential lewd images shared on Bumble and Badoo, and the Block and Report function to provide women with a space to flag out uncomfortable situations.
Lucille McCart, APAC communications director at Bumble, said, “Bumble is an app built by women, for everyone. Safety has been central to our mission from day one, and our core values of kindness, respect, and inclusivity are at the centre of all the work we do. We are proud to be able to work with AWARE in an effort to further restrict harmful individuals from being able to access our platform in Singapore.”
“At Bumble, we believe in victim-survivors and we understand the burden that can be placed on survivors to report experiences of harm to us. This is just one way that we are taking a sensitive and trauma-informed approach to safety. We are proud to work with organisations like AWARE who share the same vision of protecting women, and as part of our global mission to fight misogyny and advance gender equality, we will continue to advocate for the elimination of gender-based violence and strive to create a safer world for women. We welcome more to join us to pave the way for a safer and more positive online dating experience,” she added.
Meanwhile, Sugidha Nithiananthan, director of advocacy, research, and communications at AWARE, also said, “As more people engage in online dating, there is greater access to a larger pool of potential dates. Therefore, it is critical that groups collaborate to develop positive safeguards for the community to prevent various forms of harm that might arise from using the internet for dating. AWARE shares Bumble’s commitment to establishing a secure dating environment that not only eliminates potential threats to women’s safety but also actively prevents harassment and image-based sexual abuse. Through the provision of such features and resources, we hope to continue to empower women in Singapore to have greater agency over their dating journeys.”
