Why Background Check Your Date? Recent Viral TikTok Video Gives an Answer

When you match with someone on a dating service, how important is it to think about running a background screening on that person before you go out on a date? A recent viral TikTok video seems to provide the answer.

According to the New York Post, the TikTok user – a recruitment manager from Nashville named Shaina Kay Cardwell – recently generated more than 340,000 views on the micro-video social media network by sharing a simple story. The woman was matched with a would-be date via Hinge, a popular dating app intended for people “who want to get off dating apps for good” and make long-term connections with potential mates. When she Googled the man, though, she learned that he had an arrest on his record “for aggravated kidnapping.”

Other TikTok users flooded Cardwell’s replies with details about their own experiences with dating apps and questionable connections. From dates previously convicted of sexual assault to men with histories of alarming physical violence, the comments provided a lengthy list of why it is crucial to background check your date.

Most dating services and apps require their users to submit to some level of background screening. In March 2021, the influential online dating company Match Group announced plans to implement a background check feature on its most popular dating app, Tinder in 2021. Match Group, which is also the parent company of several other notable dating services – including Hinge, OkCupid, and PlentyOfFish – also pledged at the time to bring background checks to those services “at a later date.”

For the most part, dating services and their parent companies do not have a strong track record of conducting thorough criminal, identity, and sex offender background checks on all users. Even for dating services that incorporate background screening steps into their user sign-up process, there can be value for users to conduct their own background checks. If you plan on using one of these apps for dating purposes, the safest option would be to run background checks on your matches before you meet them for a date or even share many personal details about yourself.

At backgroundchecks.com, we help you make connections via today’s popular dating apps with complete peace of mind. While most of our background screening services are intended for employers, we do have a partnership with Peoplefinders that makes it possible for anyone to conduct background checks on friends, neighbors, colleagues, or romantic interests. A Peoplefinders search may find details that even a thorough Google search would miss.

Everyone deserves to feel safe and secure during a date. Unfortunately, the background checks that dating apps and dating services use aren’t always as thorough as they could be – and that’s if those services run background checks at all. Running a simple background check on your date with backgroundchecks.com can keep you safe and give you the peace of mind you need to enjoy yourself.