Revealed: National summit on dating app safety just weeks away

There’s action at last on dating app safety, with Australia’s most powerful figures to meet the tech giants behind them to overhaul the safety of the platforms. Find out the details here.

Tech giants that operate dating apps will meet with politicians, experts and both levels of government later this month to make the platforms safer for Australians.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland will convene a national roundtable on the issue on January 25 — following calls from the Telegraph‘s Swipe Them Out campaign.

Invitations to the event have been sent out to ministers from all states and territories.

Representatives from popular dating apps will also have a seat at the table alongside NGOs and people with lived experience.

“Every Australian deserves to live free from harassment and all forms of violence, including when using online dating and matchmaking services,“ Ms Rowland said.

Federal Communications Minister Michelle Rowland. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Dating apps have been invited to the summit. Picture: AFP

“Safety on dating apps has been a matter of growing community concern, with recent research by the AIC shining a light on the issue.

“A key focus of this discussion will be to look at what industry is doing to prevent the exploitation of their services by perpetrators, to identify what more could be done to improve the safety of users, and to consider what further action is required by government and industry to support this.”

The Telegraph launched its campaign in the aftermath of the death of Sydney teacher Dannielle Finlay-Jones.

Police confirmed that Ms Finlay-Jones met her alleged killer on a dating app and the man was confirmed to have had another dating profile on a separate app.

In October, the Australian Institute of Criminology released a new report that reveals three in every four survey respondents had been victims of some form of sexual violence in the past five years, perpetrated by someone they communicated with on a dating app or website.

The event will examine how policy, regulatory and technology settings can be overhauled to prevent violent criminals from accessing the platforms.

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