Bumble's new feature will alert you when someone sends you a dick pic
Dating apps have a dick pic problem.
Unsolicited lewd photos and harassment have become part and parcel of dating app culture in recent years. Bumble has decided to put its weight behind combatting the issue that has long dogged dating app users.
Bumble is launching an AI tool that will warn users when they've been sent an obscene photo.
AdultFriendFinder — readers’ pick for casual connections
Hinge — popular choice for regular meetups
Andrey Andreev — founder of the dating group that includes Bumble, Lumen, and Badoo — and his team used AI to build a feature that's able to capture images in realtime.
The feature, which they've named "Private Detector," will automatically blur any lewd images that are shared within a chat, and let the user know that they've received an explicit image. The user can then decide if they want to open the image, or block it. They also have the option of reporting the image to Bumble's moderators.
The feature will roll out in June 2019 for all users of Bumble, Badoo, Chappy, and Lumen.
"The safety of our users is without question the number one priority in everything we do and the development of Private Detector is another undeniable example of that commitment," Andreev said in a statement emailed to Mashable.
"The sharing of lewd images is a global issue of critical importance and it falls upon all of us in the social media and social networking worlds to lead by example and to refuse to tolerate inappropriate behaviour on our platforms," he continued.
Bumble isn't the first app to try to tackle the issue of unwanted sexually explicit photos. In 2017, OKCupid announced it would make all current and future users take an anti-harassment pledge stating that they wouldn't send unsolicited nude photos on the app.
Bumble CEO and founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is working with Texas state lawmakers on a bill to make the sending of unsolicited explicit photos a "punishable crime," per a statement emailed to Mashable. The bill, which recently passed the Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence, will be debated at the Texas House of Representatives.
"The digital world can be a very unsafe place overrun with lewd, hateful and inappropriate behaviour. There’s limited accountability, making it difficult to deter people from engaging in poor behaviour," Wolfe Herd said in a statement.
"The 'Private Detector,' and our support of this bill are just two of the many ways we’re demonstrating our commitment to making the internet safer."
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
