Classifying disinformation on dating platforms

Abstract

Little attention has been given to disinformation in the context of dating platforms. Dating apps become an attractive means for disinformative agents to target users, since their design and affordances shape users’ behaviours and can contribute to the creation and dissemination of disinformation. This study explores how online daters define, perceive and experience disinformation on dating platforms, and the impact it can have on usage and behaviours. A mixed method approach was employed combining a survey (n=309) with interviews (n=11). Findings show that although disinformation has its own theoretical framework online daters perceive it beyond, pointing to differences in how it is theoretically conceptualized and how it is experienced. Users hold dating platforms responsible for not detecting disinfor-mation efficiently, pointing to the need for mandatory verification of users’ information. While dating platforms employ several technologies and strategies to deal with disinformation, users rate them as insufficient.