Tinder Swindler reveals own plan for dating app that app stores are being pushed to reject
There are arguably too many options to choose from when it comes to dating apps these days, yet you might still want to steer clear of a new option from the 'Tinder Swindler' as app stores have been encouraged to block the service despite claims regarding its 'safety'.
Simon Leviev, more commonly known as the Tinder Swindler for his appearance in a Netflix documentary bearing the same name, managed to scammed various women to the tune of over $10 million on the popular dating app.
This earned him significant notoriety online, yet he's now attempting to utilize his platform for 'good' purposes with the promotion of a new app that Leviev claims will stop others from repeating his past actions.
He claims that his intense knowledge of 'how the system works' – with lying, cheating, and manipulation at the heart of it all – would allow him to design a new platform that prevents that activity from flourishing, yet critics aren't quite as convinced as he might hope.
Groups urge app stores to block Tinder Swindler app
As reported by the Fashion Times, the Online Dating and Discovery Association has urged Google and Apple to push back against Leviev's new activities, writing a letter this month to address their concern.
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It specifically asks the two tech giants – who operate the two largest app stores available on most smartphones – to refuse to list, or immediately remove any dating app that is founded, operated, or fronted by Leviev.
The association calls any new platform pushed by Leviev a "very real risk to women," although it's unclear whether the two companies are responsive to this call to action, or whether they are willing to allow Leviev a place on their respective app stores.
Leviev himself has insisted that Safe Love, the app that he has designed, would require both approval and regulation before it is allowed to go forward, but indicated that it is something that is 'about to launch'.
How would Tinder Swindler's app keep women safe?
Predictably, Leviev has been rather unwilling to share the specifics of his app's safeguarding measures, leaving people wondering exactly how it is supposed to protect women from people like himself that have scammed others in the past.
All that he appears to have claimed is that the app will provide a 'safer space' for women, with verification, moderation, and anti-fraud systems merely hinted to but not properly explained.
Many of the world's leading dating apps have had to dramatically increase their protective systems over the last few years amid the rise of AI, but that also raises additional privacy questions as users are often forced to hand over identification and potentially sensitive data to 'prove' that they're human.
Safe Love would theoretically then need to provide users with even greater protections in comparison, and many might not be willing to engage in that — especially considering Leviev's controversial and unconvincing past.