Hornet are the first gay dating app to introduce some kind of authenticity/verification called Hornet Badge. Intending to add some kind of legitimacy to whoever you’re talking to online and cut out catfishing that we’ve all endured from time to time!
Catfishing means using stolen images and pretend you’re someone that you’re not (a little bit more than knocking a couple of years off your age. *Ahem*!).
Scruff chief executive Eric Silverberg outlined to the BBC why his company are not partaking in a similar scheme: “Once you start verifying some, you create a kind of hierarchy on your platform that could lead to unintended consequences for people who are not out of the closet.”
Hornet however say its system will not involve ID checking which in turn could be mis-used by the more than 70 backwards countries around the world that have anti LGBTQ+ laws.
Hornet chief executive Christof Wittig told the BBC that while catfishing can still be technically possible “with this system, the amount of work versus the probability of reward changes. We are making being a fake profile very costly. They can no longer do it at scale.”
So what are your feelings about this? I can see pluses and minuses but personally see this as more of a positive development!
Hornet images taken from their Instagram account @hornet.
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