Last year popular online platforms were threatened with government regulation unless they improve safety for users, following a spike in reports of threats of violence and abuse.
Intimacy and dating app expert Dr Lisa Portolan says people are turning away from dating apps due to safety concerns and also online fatigue.
The Briefing host Antoinette Lattouf asks intimacy and dating app expert Dr Lisa Portolan about Australia’s relationship with dating apps:
“Dating apps tend to feel like a second job for a lot of people, right? There’s a lot of activity that goes on in the space. There’s a lot of swiping. There’s a lot of chatting,” Portolan said.
“Which tends to sort of encourage this concept so that everyone is disposable to some degree,” she said.
There are growing concerns about online safety, including catfishing, fake profiles and the impact of AI.
The federal government gave industry until mid-2024 to develop and implement a voluntary code of practice to improve standards.
Portolan told The Briefing dating apps should collaborate with law enforcement, be transparent, and implement in-app safety features.
“There are statistics that indicate that sort of dating apps had a peak in time during COVID, and since then they have been dropping at a rather rapid speed,” Portolan said.
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