Minister for Communications, the Hon Michelle Rowland MP, and Minister for Social Services, the Hon Amanda Rishworth MP, have convened a meeting to examine what more can be done to improve safety for Australians using online dating platforms.
Held in Sydney, the National Roundtable on Online Dating Safety brought together representatives from the online dating industry, Commonwealth, state and territory governments, civil society, frontline domestic and sexual violence support services, academics and law enforcement.
The roundtable was convened following a recent Australian Institute of Criminology report, which revealed three out of every four respondents had been subjected to sexual violence facilitated by dating apps in the last five years. Sexual harassment was the most common form of behaviour reported, as well as abusive and threatening language, and unsolicited sexual images.
Roundtable discussions were productive and collaborative, with all participants affirming a shared commitment to better prevent and respond to harms occurring on and through dating apps.
Online dating services that took part in the Roundtable included Match Group (the parent company of Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid and others), Bumble, and Grindr. Experts from civil society and non-government organisations working in women's safety, and those representing First Nations Australians, Australians living with disability, the LGBTIQ+ community, migrant and culturally diverse communities and young people also participated.
