Tinder is a location-based dating application (using Facebook) that “facilitates communication between mutually interested users, allowing matched users to chat.” According to askmen.com it’s also a great way to enjoy a “regret-free hookup.” Apparently there is something else that Tinder is good for: obtaining a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) put pressure on Tinder bosses for them to add a “Health and Safety” section. AHF had put up billboards linking the dating app to chlamydia and gonorrhea as reported by on the Daily Mail.
Tinder has also added a ‘find your nearest STD clinic’ locator to its website. The new ‘Health Safety’ section of the Tinder website recommends users wear condoms and suggests asking potential partners when they were last checked for sexually transmitted diseases.
The change followed a dispute between Tinder and the AHF, which refused to take down huge roadside signs suggesting the app was causing a surge in infections. The AHF originally refused to take down the adverts, which showed silhouettes of a man labeled ‘Tinder’ face-to-face with a woman labeled ‘chlamydia’. The huge roadside signs also showed a silhouette of a man labeled ‘Grindr’ – a gay dating app – facing a male silhouette labeled ‘gonorrhea’.
Despite facing legal action from Tinder, the HIV/Aids advocacy group said it would only consider taking the billboards down once a health section was added to the Tinder website. This past week the AHF welcomed the move and is now set to remove the adverts. It said it will continue to encourage other dating apps and websites to add a health section.
AHF senior director Whitney Engeran-Cordova said, “The CDC recently reported that sexually transmitted diseases increased dramatically in 2014. We are unfortunately now waging an uphill battle on this front. The CDC also noted, the majority of these infections are affecting young people – the demographic that is on their mobile phones all day long. This is why it is such welcome news that Tinder will add a Health Safety section with a link to Healthvana, making it easier for people to find testing locations through an easily accessible, modern platform. And we hope to see other dating sites do the same.”
The row between the AHF and Tinder erupted as medical experts warned the surge in popularity of dating and casual sex apps was fueling a rise in sexually transmitted infections.
Dr. Peter Greenhouse, of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV, said the apps could trigger an ‘explosion’ of HIV in heterosexual people. Speaking to BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat in November, he said: “You are able to turn over partners more quickly with a dating app and the quicker you change partners, the more likely you are to get infections. What really worries me is that we are just at a tipping point for HIV. If enough people change partners quickly, and they’ve got other untreated sexually transmitted infections, it might just start an explosion of HIV in the heterosexual population. Apps could do that.”
Experts also warned that apps such as Tinder have made casual sex as available as ordering takeout. “Mobile dating apps are rapidly altering the sexual landscape by making casual sex as easily available as ordering a pizza,” The’s AHF’s Whitney Engeran-Cordova said last year.
Dr. Jessica Carbino, from Tinder, said: “An important aspect of any healthy relationship – whether formed on Tinder or otherwise – is ensuring sexual health and safety. We’d be delighted to see other major social networks follow in our footsteps in educating the public.”
DCG