One new website wants to show the world that if people play with Tinder, they’re going to get burned.
For only $4.99, Swipebuster helps customers find out if a specific person has an active Tinder account and shows their last known location, according to The Guardian. Users enter a first name, age and relative location to search for other Tinder users in the area.
In an ironic twist, the developer behind the website that exposes Tinder users is choosing to stay anonymous. Swipebuster’s developer told Vanity Fair that his intention was not to help couples catch cheating partners, but to show how easy it is to retrieve Tinder users’ personal information. The developer’s ultimate goal, he said, was for Tinder to take steps to make its users’ information private.
Vanity Fair reported that a Tinder spokesperson said in a statement, “searchable information on the Web site is public information that Tinder users have on their profiles. If you want to see who’s on Tinder we recommend saving your money and downloading the app for free.”
Because Tinder gives users all of the basic information they need, the only real use for Swipebuster is to stalk people.
And in a more dangerous sense, the app allows obsessive ex-partners or abusers to keep tabs on a former mate even after the two have lost contact. The potential for misuse makes justifying the website’s social commentary even more difficult.
As the Tinder spokeswoman pointed out, the best way to find out if someone is on Tinder is to download Tinder for free. Tinder Plus even allows users to swipe in cities other than their own.
Nobody’s first thought about Swipebuster will be about its social commentary potential. Consumers will be drawn to Swipebuster for the stalk factor, not for witnessing a social point being made.
The website may be targeting Tinder and its users for making information readily available online, but the side effect is essentially shaming people for using Tinder and other online dating platforms. Technology should bolster the development of new relationships, and that’s exactly what Tinder does. It’s an easy way to get to know people without leaving the comfort of one’s home.
Tinder is the definitive dating app. Sometimes, it facilitates meaningful relationships. And that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with meeting on an app, no matter how interesting it would be for two people to tell their future children.
People on Tinder are putting themselves into the world for a reason. They want love or a hookup or something else out of using the app. They know they’ll be seen, but they think bearing their souls in a short bio and six pictures or fewer is worth the risk.
Invading a platform many consider to be private, such as Snapchat, would be an entirely different story.
The most questionable part of Swipebuster is its ability to show a person’s last known location. This part of Tinder should be private, but making a profit off of stalkers in the name of social commentary is not the way to go about changing things.
And making the database of Tinder users private wouldn’t stop people from going on Tinder to monitor people’s lives, either. While the developer of Swipebuster wants to make Tinder more private, the dating app has visibly taken strides to do the opposite. Tinder can sync up to Facebook and Instagram, so it’s already far from serving any explicitly private purpose.
Tinder users should expect a basic level of privacy, but they shouldn’t ask for too much, considering they know their profile could be seen by anyone with similar settings. And as Facebook and Instagram are already integrated into Tinder, social media is standardized across all accounts. Privacy is not a priority on the app.
Using Tinder doesn’t need to involve a big scandal. Building relationships with the simplicity of a swipe makes the app a modern marvel. There are people on Tinder looking for love, hookups, parties or just friends. Users know the general idea of what they’re getting themselves into, and they don’t need a website to tell them anything. So Tinder on, lonely lovers. Tinder on.
