New dating app goes full-blown 'Law and Order', bans everyone with a criminal record
A new dating app is going full-blown Law and Order on daters by running a background check on them before they get swiping. And then blocking anyone who has a criminal record. But, is it fair to apply ban literally everyone with a conviction, especially if it's over a petty crime?
Gatsby -- which is currently only available on iOS in the U.S. -- works like most dating apps, you swipe left to pass, swipe right to match. But, there's one rather significant difference: When new users sign up to the app, Gatsby scans them for criminal records.
According to the app's founder, Joseph Penora, the app scans U.S. criminal and sex offender databases. "If you were to just scan for sex offenders you wouldn’t ban people with domestic violence crimes, theft, etc. So we scan for both," he says.
AdultFriendFinder — readers’ pick for casual connections
Hinge — popular choice for regular meetups
Gatsby doesn't allow any users with criminal records, regardless of the type of crime committed. "We block anyone with a crime. To do a judgment call on each crime and to determine which crime is "acceptable" wouldn’t feel right. The app doesn't ban people who've been arrested, just people who have been convicted of something. Penora says the company updates the data monthly so users are "constantly scanned," and no one slips through the net. The background check currently takes 3.2 seconds to do, says Penora.
If a hopeful user has a criminal record then they're shown a screen that says "we need to further verify" and they will be unable to use the app. That means that wannabe users won't be informed that they've been banned, nor will they know the reason behind this ban.
Currently, the app has no measures in place to prevent the creation of fake profiles. So, users who find themselves blocked due to their criminal records could find a way to circumvent the background check. Penora says the company plans to "implement features" this summer to prevent fake profiles and that they're keen to "keep one step ahead of criminals." "We will be constantly adding security features. We can’t sleep on this ... user security is our mantra," says Penora. Better security on dating apps is a great idea in theory. But, with apps like Tinder, Grindr, Match, and Bumble ruling the roost in the online dating realm, is one app's zero-tolerance approach to crime really going to make a difference? Probably not.
Maybe it's time other dating apps stepped up their security game. But, perhaps not to quite the same extent as Gatsby.
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.
