Bumble will start removing profiles that falsely report users for their identity

Bumble moderators dismiss about 90% of violation reports directed at gender nonconforming members.

That's because the dating app has discovered some daters will report a profile as a means of discrimination, not because that profile actually violates any rules.

Now, Bumble is cracking down on false reports targeting daters for their identities, the company said Thursday.

Those who make intentionally false reports could find themselves booted off the platform. 

A 2021 Medium piece from MIT Media Lab summarized how dating apps can be fraught and even dangerous places for people in marginalized communities.

From filters that let daters keep out certain ethnicities to privacy concerns for those on apps geared to the LGBTQ community, online dating can be yet another avenue for the expression of hatred toward a specific group.

Bumble's move comes with a broader policy announcement banning identity-based hate, spanning "race, ethnicity, national origin/nationality, immigration status, caste, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, serious health condition, or religion/belief."

This week Bumble also made an AI tool that it built called Private Detector open source -- Private Detector intercepts unwanted pics, blurring them and warning daters before they get an eyeful of something they didn't ask for.