Can sex offenders be on dating sites
06-Dec-2019 06:59
(A similar bill was signed into law in Illinois in 2009 and put on hold in California in 2011.) Late last month, Match.com, e Harmony and the Spark Networks signed a "joint statement of business principles" to attempt to screen out registered sex offenders.
First, to the legal concerns: The ACLU filed a lawsuit in response to an earlier version of the Louisiana law, which seemed to apply not only to social networking sites but to , claiming that it was "overbroad" and would infringe upon "free speech rights under the First Amendment." It was already signed into law but was struck down in February on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.
Janine Dunphy said a free dating website connected her with the man she says raped her.
“I wouldn’t have ever thought that somebody like him would be on a dating website,” she said.
“Match Group has promised to screen against the sex offender registry list for, specifically, Match.com, but has not extended that to the rest of its apps,” said Hillary Flynn with Columbia Journalism Investigations.
A Match Group spokesperson told her team “there are definitely registered sex offenders on our free products.” “Almost all of these attacks occur on the first date,” Flynn said.
When he was released, he went back on Plenty of Fish looking for more women to attack. Shortly after matching with this man, another woman reported to police that she had been raped by him.
Match Group has created a feeding ground for heinous sexual predators, and we are the bait. I spent weeks of my life searching for his profile.
Constitutionally speaking, where can the line be drawn?
Dunphy is one of about 10 million Americans a new investigation finds is one click away from a sexual predator, hiding behind a profile on free dating apps and sites like Tinder, Ok Cupid, Hinge and Plenty of Fish.
All of those apps are owned by Match Group, which also runs the fee-based site Match.com, which does scrub users profiles that are found on sex offender registries.
We expect that when we put ourselves on these apps in hopes of finding connection, companies have done the bare minimum to keep us safe. Match Group is allowing anyone their apps – and it’s dangerous and reckless.
It’s time to demand that Match Group step up to protect its users.Join me in telling the company to start screening for sexual predators on all of their dating platforms.A new investigation finds many free dating apps don’t screen whether users are registered sex offenders.Dunphy said she felt comfortable and went to Papamechail’s house, where she said he raped her.