The electoral campaign for the next regional elections is already underway unofficially (because it does not officially begin until May 12). That is why in the next few days we are going to see how all kinds of electoral promises emerge, such as the one Mónica García has made for a “law proposal against digital violence” for those who have been harassed on dating apps like Tinder.
The measures proposed by the Más Madrid spokeswoman also include a public app to report cyberbullying and protocols against sexist violence in this type of dating applications.
Anti-harassment proposal on Tinder
Mónica García, a doctor and Más Madrid candidate for the presidency of the Community of Madrid in the next regional elections on May 28, has expressed one of the current problems regarding dating applications such as Tinder.
Monica Garcia
@Monica_Garcia_G
Good morning. 57% of women on Tinder have felt pressured to have sex. We propose a law against digital violence, a public app to report cyberbullying and protocols against sexist violence in dating apps.
-And fix public health-
April 27, 2023 • 08:15
409
527
“57% of women on Tinder have felt pressured to have sex. We propose a law against digital violence, a public app to denounce cyberbullying and protocols against sexist violence in dating apps”.
The data corresponds to report ‘Apps without violence’ of the Federation of Young Women, published last March and based on almost a thousand surveys using Tinder as the leading dating platform among the youngest. The results of this report estimated that 57.9% of the interviewees had felt pressured to have sex with the men they met.
In addition, it revealed another even more worrying fact. 21.7% of the women who had dates through Tinder assured that they “were forced to have a sexual relationship through explicit violence”. That is, “they were raped in the most socially agreed sense of the term, mediating physical violence.”
Compliments, nudity or conversations with sexual content in the first interactions with a user are common on Tinder and the like. The users who have received messages alluding to their physique reach up to 92.2%. Of them, 87.6% said they felt uncomfortable because of it. For their part, 79% admitted having felt uncomfortable or pressured to send nude photos and 69.3% felt pressured to have sexually explicit conversations against their will.
What is the current legislation?
According to data from the Atico Group34, experts in legal consulting, there is already a regulation that protects this type of interaction that could be considered harassment if you insist on having sexual relations. However, it is not specific to cases of dating apps, but more related to online harassment in general.
«We can face different types of harassment on the Internet, but as far as dating applications are concerned, the most common type of harassment is that related to sexual harassment (derived from sexting, sextortion, doxing, etc.)» .
The applications also have mechanisms to report profiles that break the rules. From Tinder, for example, you will have to follow these steps:
- Go Settings
- Aid
- Security
- Report a bug or security breach
- Report something that has happened in the app (where you can report the profile by clicking on “Report” or report another problem by clicking on “Contact us”).
- You can also send the complaint by mail through this link. You can choose between several options to report your problem and you must include the name, age, biography and, if applicable, photos that appear in the reported profile, and, if known, the location, telephone number and email address of the accused.
Tinder has marked a series of cases in which you should report and when not Regarding harassment, he establishes the following: «You must report harassment inside and outside the app. We take all reports of harassment very seriously (and so should you). We won’t know if someone is stalking you if you communicate outside of Tinder. If someone is harassing you through messages, inside or outside the app, let us know and we’ll take care of it.”
