Bumble recently announced it’s new anti-abuse tip line, designed to remove the burden on reporting abusive and dangerous behaviour on the app, and AWARE is proud to be the first NGO to partner with them in Singapore.

Under this partnership, AWARE will be onboarded onto a platform that provides a pathway to a tip line for organisations to report harmful or dangerous individuals to Bumble’s dedicated Member Safety team. If these individuals are found to be attempting to use the app, they face receiving a warning from Bumble or even having their profiles permanently removed from the platform. This partnership seeks to help mitigate the burden placed on victim-survivors to report these harms while ensuring that dangerous individuals are proactively removed from the Bumble platform. 

This reporting pathway is powered by Kodex, a secure information sharing portal currently employed by Bumble to communicate with law enforcement agencies around the world. This new tip line, developed specifically for NGOs and charities who work with victim-survivors, is housed separately to any law enforcement communications. While this process is only open to NGOs and charitable organisations, individuals can still report a dangerous or harmful individual to Bumble through our in-app reporting mechanism, online contact form, or through our social support function. 

“Bumble is an app built by women, for everyone. Safety has been central to our mission from day one, and we are proud to be able to work with AWARE in an effort to further restrict harmful individuals from being able to access our platform in Singapore,” Lucille McCart, APAC Communications Director at Bumble said.

“At Bumble we believe victim-survivors and we understand the burden that can be placed on survivors to report experiences of harm to us. This is just one way that we are taking a sensitive and trauma-informed approach to safety.  We are proud to work with organisations like AWARE who share the same vision of protecting women, and we welcome more to join us to pave the way for a safer and more positive online dating experience.”

The event also featured a discussion panel, covering a wide range of topics from the role platform providers play a part in making the dating scene safer for women, to how individuals and the community can support the people who have experienced tech-facilitated sexual violence or TFSV.

One in four of the clients who came to AWARE’s Sexual Assault Care Centre (SACC) in 2021 did so as a result of having been the victim of TFSV.

Half of those cases involved image-based sexual abuse, which involves sexual, nude, or intimate images or videos of another person, and in 17% of all cases, the perp was a dating app contact.

Most of the victims of TFSV we saw were young adults, with the 18–34 age groups being the most affected.

“TFSV is a digital threat that cuts across all demographics, regardless of one’s age or gender, and, sadly, perpetrators take advantage of the anonymity and ease of access and use of online platforms to carry out such violence,” Sugidha Nithianathan (left), Director of Advocacy, Research and Communications at AWARE, said. “Online dating can be a murky space to navigate, but Bumble has been dedicated in making the experience safer for everyone. From implementing mechanisms that protect individuals from accessing unwanted images, to kickstarting discussions about equitable relationships in Singapore, we welcome the initiatives taken by Bumble thus far.

“We are happy to be part of this partnership with Bumble. We share Bumble’s values of kindness, respect, and equality, and we believe this is a critical service that will help users navigate the online space more safely.”