Class Action Says Tinder’s Photo Verification Process Allowed Scammers to Get ‘Verified,’ Pose as Plaintiff

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Tinder faces a proposed class action wherein a consumer claims the dating app has misrepresented the efficacy of its Photo Verification process and failed to detect scammers who have posed as her online.

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The 14-page lawsuit says that although Tinder touts the “reliability and accuracy” of its Photo Verification process and represents it as a way to “prove you’re the person in your photos,” the process, in fact, “does nothing to verify the user’s identity.”

The suit alleges that the Photo Verification process, which requires a user to submit a video selfie for authentication, lacks the ability to determine whether the selfie was truly taken by the individual at the time they seek verification. Instead, as in the plaintiff’s case, the feature merely “compares the stolen public photos against other stolen public photos,” the complaint contends.

The filing accuses Tinder of appropriating and profiting from the likenesses of consumers without consent and misrepresenting the legitimacy of its Photo Verification process.

The plaintiff, a New Jersey resident, was permanently banned from Tinder in 2019 without explanation. The case says the consumer was “confused about why she was banned because she had barely used her account since signing up.”

According to the suit, the plaintiff was warned by a friend in December 2022 that someone named Gloria was using her photos on Tinder, the lawsuit says. After viewing screenshots of the stranger’s Tinder profile, which featured pictures of the plaintiff, the woman was “horrified” to see that the profile had been “verified” by the app, the suit relays.

To receive the blue “verified” checkmark on a Tinder profile, a user’s submitted video selfie must pass a “Liveness Check” and “3D Face Authentication step,” the case shares. These tests use facial recognition technology to determine whether the video was taken by a real person and compare the user’s facial geometry with other photos of them, the complaint explains.

However, despite the representations that the process is trustworthy, the individual who created the Gloria account on Tinder was able to take public photos of the plaintiff and successfully pass the multi-step verification system, the filing contests.

“Accordingly, [Tinder’s] platform gives its users the false impression that these ‘verified’ users, who are most likely scammers, have been confirmed as real and authentic,” the lawsuit claims.

The suit alleges that, as a result of the app’s false advertising and “deceptive” practices, unknown individuals have been allowed to continue posing as the plaintiff online, which has caused “substantial damage to her reputation.”

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone in New Jersey who created a Tinder account in the last six years.

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