MEDIA POST - Tinder is adding a $2.50 background check option to its popular dating app via Garbo, the new in-app service, which allows people to access public information about violent behavior, including arrests, convictions, and sex offender registry records. "It's been a long time coming," says Mark Brooks, CEO of Courtland Brooks, which consults with online dating apps. "Background checks have been in the works for years. But records haven't always been up to date, and there are gaps in databases." He points out that back in 2011, Match.com agreed to screen users to weed out sex offenders as part of a legal settlement. And while it did so, it didn't make that information public. Brooks says that's likely for two reasons. "First, that might give people a false sense of security. The most dangerous person is the one who hasn't been caught yet." Second, he says, it's unnerving to users who simply hadn't yet wondered if the date they just set up is with a scammer, a sex offender or an ax murderer. Visible background checks can "make people think, 'Hold on! I didn't think I'd need to do something like this!'" Brooks is a consultant to RealMe, a competitor to Garbo that helps detect fake dating profiles. For now, Garbo is only available on Tinder. But Match says it will soon roll it out to additional sites.
by Sarah Mahoney
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