Is Tinder safe? After the revelations of recent months, the answer is no. And Match Group, the company behind Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid, knew this all along.
Since 2016, Match Group has maintained an internal database called "Sentinel." According to a Fortune investigation, by 2022 it was recording "hundreds of troubling incidents every week." Sexual assaults, rapes, drugging. The company knew which users were dangerous.
Yet these users kept swiping.
The Stephen Matthews Case: 158 Years in Prison, Years on the Platform
Dr. Stephen Matthews, a Denver cardiologist, met his victims through Tinder and Hinge. Between 2019 and 2023, he drugged and raped eleven women.
According to The Denver Post, he was reported in September 2020. He remained active. One survivor was matched with his unchanged profile three months after reporting him.
He was finally arrested in January 2023. August 2024: 158 years in prison. Six of his victims are now suing Match Group.
What Sentinel Actually Is
The Sentinel database was supposed to protect users. It collects reports about assaults across platforms. Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish. All Match Group.
But here is the problem. The database was never designed to ban offenders. It only tracks them. A Markup investigation in December 2025 found that banned users could easily create new accounts using identical names, birthdays, and photos.
An internal Match Group employee wrote in 2021: "The obsession with metrics is frustrating and potentially dangerous. This is not the way we were meant to work and people's lives are at risk."
The Numbers Match Group Hides
Dating app safety is not a fringe issue. According to Brigham Young University research, 14% of the 1,968 rapes by acquaintances studied occurred during initial meetups arranged through dating apps.
Even more disturbing: these assaults were more violent than others. Strangulation occurred in one third of cases. Predators specifically use these apps as hunting grounds for potential victims.
Match Group promised a transparency report in 2020. Never published. The US Congress requested data. No response. Then in February 2024, the central safety team was laid off and work outsourced to contractors overseas.
Grindr: Not an Isolated Case
The problem goes beyond Match Group. As NBC News reported, Grindr was sued after 16-year-old Miranda Corsette met people through the app who later kidnapped, tortured, and murdered her. The lawsuit: $150 to $600 million. The accusation: no effective age verification despite the technology existing.
What This Means for Users
You know the usual tips. Meet in public places, tell friends, do a video call first. They matter.
But they should not be necessary. Not to this extent. Platforms making billions have the data and resources to keep known predators away from users. They choose not to.
As ProPublica reported, "no dating site has a team exclusively dedicated to addressing the risk of sexual assault." The entire burden of prevention falls on potential victims.
The system is broken. Match Group has known since 2016.
