Should online dating sites require legal background checks?
The introduction of the internet has had enormous impacts on how people conduct their daily life activities, starting from business to interacting. All this has been made possible by the increased acceptance of digital devices such as computers, tablets, and smartphones, which have enabled people to get more connected than before. Dating is one of the main issues in society and has been greatly affected by the introduction of the internet and digital devices. There is an endless supply of online dating websites with the aim of helping individuals to find someone easier to date. However, there are less or no laws set to regulate online dating, and this means that there are increased security risks with dating a stranger that one meets on the internet, and this is why there should be a background check on online dating platforms.
One of the reasons why background checks should be conducted on online dating platforms is because online dating profiles are highly visible. Based on this, it implies that it is possible to view and connect with as many people as possible. However, the problem arises in that an individual can see the information of a particular match, and this means that they can see the other person as well. As a result, this can lead to cyberstalking. Through this, a person can be able to find out all sorts of personal information from other social platforms that may be connected to the dating sites. Since this is not possible to access the other sites, interested parties may hack the platforms, putting the individual in a vulnerable situation. Based on this, it is best for online dating apps to conduct a background check to allow only people who have an objective of finding love.
Another reason why background checks should be conducted on online dating platforms is that there is a high probability of faked identities. People who are not ready to put their real identities in the online dating platform may opt to create new identities online as no one will have to verify whether they are valid or not before speaking to them. Based on this, it makes it easy for individuals with criminal records to easily connect with people who do not suspect that they are actually speaking with criminals. For example, it is easy for a person who is a registered sex offender to create an account online and withhold their real identities from the people with who they will be interacting within the platform, and this can be achieved through such activities as posting fake images, out-of-date images, bogus phone numbers and even posting incorrect information such as age, gender, and height. All these are misleading, and if the criminal is a repeat offender, there are high chances that he is preying on women. Since there are no background checks on the platform, it gives the criminal a perfect hideout and continues perpetrating their criminal acts. Most of the profiles created by such individuals are often difficult to spot, and this explains why online dating background checks can greatly help in sniffing out criminals from accessing the platforms.
Some people use the online dating platform to scam other people in the pretense of looking for a genuine match. Prior to online dating, individuals could always agree on where they could meet and enjoy time together. Often at these times, individuals could introduce themselves and also be introduced to parents and friends. Based on this, the traditional dating method was known to build trust and safety among the couples as well as their friends and relatives. However, with the advent of online dating platforms, people can now hide behind the screen and pretend to someone else who they are not in real life. Based on this, it is easy for individuals to run out scams such as catfishing, and this form of deception has become a major problem in most dating websites. An individual could decide to run a scam in which he aims to lure other people in and request explicit photos or even solicit money from the victims.
In most cases, scammers do get successful as people get entrapped and accept the challenge thinking they have already found the person of their match. Even if the trick doesn’t work, it is possible for a person who was rejected with a certain profile to create another fake account and trick the other person into communicating with them. Based on this, neither od the situation is ideal, and it would be better is the online dating sites would conduct a background check to eliminate the possibilities of creating fake accounts as well as having multiple accounts on the same platform since a genuine person will only have one account to operate.
Despite all the risks, there are people who claim that online dating platforms should not be legally checked, and on this, they cite that it is a violation of the right to privacy of an individual. The United States Constitution provides all people with equal rights, and this includes the right to privacy. An individual has the right to dictate what they want with their lives, and this means that whether an individual is a criminal or not, it should not bother others about their activities. Besides, the Fourth Amendment protects people from unreasonable search and surveillance, which means that with the online dating apps conducting background checks, they are actually in violation of the right to privacy and an unreasonable search. Based on this, background checks should not be conducted on online dating platforms.
Conducting background checks does not help to stop sexual assaults. The actual reason why online platforms are required to perform background checks is due to increased sexual assaults. Most people believe that sexual predators find an easy way of getting their victims from online dating platforms, and this makes it easy for them to jump from one girl to another. With this in mind, it is easy for sexual offenders to commit as many sexual assault crimes. However, this has not been the case, and even if it were, very few of the sex offenders do have online dating accounts. Therefore, there is not enough evidence to claim that online dating platforms are precursors for sexual assaults.
In conclusion, online dating has been a good and a bad thing, and this can be gauged by the advantages and disadvantages that result from the sites. Online dating platforms have successfully connected many couples, but it has also been used as a hiding place for criminals, especially sex offenders. Based on this, the online dating platform has both genuine people and criminals, with most of the people looking to prey on the innocent, asking for explicit photos and money, and thus continue to run their illegal business unidentified. There are many people who have been victims of online crimes such as hacking, extortion, and even trolling, and this makes unregulated online dating an ugly affair. Based on this, it is important for the online dating platform to conduct a background check on its members to prevent signing in criminals.