Face liveness detection mandatory for new Tinder users in California, Canada

New Tinder users in California are now required to provide face biometrics through a video selfie on setting up an account, according to a report from Axios.

Biometrics are not new for Tinder. Wonder Match Group has been using photo verification via real-time selfies since 2020. Various expansions have seen it deploy the system, powered by biometrics from FaceTec, across the U.S., UK, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia.

But whereas that system, branded as ID Check, verifies age and identity against a government-issued ID, the new Face Check system (also a FaceTec product) “confirms the person is real and present and whether their face matches their profile photos,” and “also checks if the face is used across multiple accounts.”

In other words, it performs face liveness detection and scans for matches on other accounts, as a way to prevent the creation of accounts using deepfaked identities. Match Group’s head of trust and safety Yoel Roth tells Axios it’s “really meant to be about confirming that this person is a real, live person and not a bot or a spoofed account.”

Face Check is reportedly already live in Colombia and Canada (excluding Quebec). Roth calls early results from those jurisdictions promising, and says California is seen as an ideal test market in the U.S. due to its size, demographics and robust online safety and privacy laws.

But the move may be part of a larger scramble to find a solution to sinking revenues for Tinder and its cohort of “match” sites. Match Group recently cut 13 percent of staff last month after declines in revenue and paying users. The sector is falling on tough times as paying users look elsewhere for love or thrills; in the UK, Ofcom’s 2024 Online Nation report shows use of the most popular dating apps dropped by nearly 16 percent between 2023 and 2024.

The industry has looked to AI features as a potential solution. However, Match Group also has contingency in its additional holdings: in addition to Tinder, it also owns Match.com, Meetic, OkCupid, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, OurTime and other global dating brands.

Article Topics

biometric liveness detection  |  biometric matching  |  biometrics  |  California  |  Canada  |  face biometrics  |  face detection  |  selfie biometrics  |  Tinder