Tinder bets on safety improvements to build trust and long-term growth

The feature aims to cut down on bots, duplicate accounts and impersonation, as well as prevent banned users from returning to the platform, said Yoel Roth, who heads trust and safety at parent company Match Group.

“We want people to come to Tinder knowing that you can trust every profile you see in the app, but it’s a long road to get there," Roth said.

Roth said Match knows there might be growing pains as the company prioritizes the safety of its users, but expects its efforts will pay off.

“I would say we’re really focused on the long term. Trust and safety bets can often involve short-term trade offs on the business side," Roth said.

The feature will roll out across the U.S. in the coming months and globally where local regulations permit. It is already required for new users in California and in countries including Canada, Australia and India, where user exposure to bad actors such as spam, scam attempts or bot accounts has fallen more than 60%.

“Usually, if we could move exposure by like 5%, that’s a really good day," said Roth, who previously led similar trust and safety work at Twitter. “Moving exposure by 60% is unprecedented, and it’s why we’re now moving so aggressively to roll out Face Check in additional markets."

The feature is part of a wider push across all of Match’s brands to increase trust among users, including improvements to the company’s flagship “Are you sure?" tool, which prompts users across some of its apps to reconsider sending messages identified as potentially disrespectful.

Match plans to expand the feature to different languages, and is incorporating large language models and generative AI to help users avoid common pitfalls in early messaging. The tool has shown promise in preventing excessive flattery, which can fall flat with Gen Z women, Roth said.

“We think that having some behavioral nudges that can turn down the temperature in some of those interactions can be really beneficial for our users," he said.

Match also wants to bring its face-scanning feature to its other brands—which include Hinge, OkCupid and its namesake platform—next year as it looks to centralize its trust and safety efforts, Roth said.

“A big part of Match Group is to innovate at one of our brands, and then bring the best of what works to the entire portfolio," he said.

In the near term, the new requirement may result in some pressure on the business as certain accounts get kicked off, putting user growth metrics at risk, Roth said. That is a trade off the company is willing to make as it expects its bet on safety to pay off in the long run as users start having better interactions on their apps.

“We’re not an ad-driven business. We don’t make money when people just spend hours and hours in our apps," Roth said. “It’s really about having successful outcomes, and matching with a bot is not a successful outcome."

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com