Online dating safety: Here’s how Bumble’s digital safety handbook can help

Bumble recently announced the second edition of its Stand for Safety initiative in India. Under the initiative, the app is partnering with the Centre for Social Research (CSR) and Nyaaya to create a second handbook on digital safety. Bumble has also updated its terms and conditions to explicitly ban any unsolicited and derogatory comments made about someone’s appearance, body shape, size or health.
The dating app already comes with a few features to tackle digital safety issues. These include Private Detector, an AI-based picture that automatically detects and blurs unsolicited nude images, and an in-app Safety + Wellbeing Centre resource hub. Bumble also allows women to choose to use only their name’s first initial to create a dating profile, allowing users to share their full name later on whenever they are comfortable.
Bumble India safety handbook
The Bumble digital handbook will provide simple, actionable information to educate people about their legal rights and ways to exercise them when faced with online hate and discrimination. Bumble also released their first safety handbook last year which focused on how citizens could identify and report online harassment.

The second edition of the handbook on digital safety can be found on the Bumble website and details topics like Emotional abuse, inappropriate behaviour, body shaming, discrimination, identity-based harassment and gaslighting, among others.
A dedicated section in the handbook also details your rights as a citizen, covering information on legal rights, punishable offences, and how to report the same, along with important contact information.
Bumble also shared that a nationwide study revealed online harassment has been affecting people all around the country. As per the study, one in two people (50 per cent) have encountered hateful content online, while one in four women (25 per cent) have witnessed negative comments on their appearance and online abuse at least once a week.

The study also revealed that 40 per cent of people have faced hate-driven speech and bullying online, while 52 per cent of people have felt angry about facing online bullying and hate. 38 per cent of people also said these experiences make it hard for them to trust other people.