Bumble takes a stand against flakes in new guidelines

Dating app Bumble — alongside Bumble for Friends and Badoo — announced updated Community Guidelines to crack down on behavior like standing a date up and revealing someone's personal information.

Citing the mental health impacts of ghosting, Bumble now considers the act — specifically, two people agreeing to meet up and one of them flaking without contact — Bullying and Abusive Conduct in the guidelines.

Bumble will also consider doxxing (malicious sharing of personal identifying information online) bullying, and it will fall under the Physical Violence and Bullying Policy.

Additionally, Bumble now prohibits any attempts to artificially influence connections, matching, conversations, or any other engagement through automation or scripting. Policies against victim-blaming and promotion of adult content (including attempts to sell, advertise, or buy adult content) are now included as well.

Users who exhibit these behaviors may be banned from Bumble platforms.

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"By holding our members accountable for their actions, it creates more accountable digital spaces and behavior. We want to help people feel connected and less lonely, and safer spaces lead to better connections," said founder and CEO of Bumble Whitney Wolfe Herd.

The apps are combatting spam and scam accounts by using a machine-learning model developed by Bumble's Trust and Safety Collective. Bumble has been deploying such models for years to enforce Community Guidelines to detect messages and images that violate them, according to the press release, like harassment and identity-based hate.

"Our latest Community Guidelines are grounded in our values of kindness, safety, inclusivity, and respect and reflect our efforts to curb bad behaviors both on and off our platforms," Wolfe Herd continued. "Our goal is that these updates bring us one step closer to our overarching mission to create a world where all relationships are healthy and equitable, so we can help combat loneliness."