Australian Study Finds Tech-Based Abuse Widespread on Dating Apps

A Behavioural Insights Team report published on September 21 surveyed 1,008 heterosexual women in Australia about abuse on dating platforms. Ninety-nine percent said they had experienced at least one of the behaviours measured during the previous three months, with respondents reporting them about once a week on average. Psychological and emotional abuse was the most common category, reported by 95% of respondents. The report includes love bombing, gaslighting, negging, coercion and repeated boundary testing in that category. More overt incidents were less common but still substantial: 34% reported catfishing, 32% unwanted explicit images, 22% threats and 22% financial scams.

The researchers also interviewed 12 women with lived experience and developed the Gendered Abuse on Dating Apps Scale, or GADA Scale, to help platforms and researchers measure a wider range of harms. The report says platform complaint data undercount abuse because women often unmatch, block or avoid a person instead of reporting conduct that can be hard to classify or prove. The study shows why complaint totals capture only part of the problem. Many respondents said they managed harmful behaviour by unmatching, blocking or avoiding the person instead of filing a report. Its new measurement scale could help platforms track harms that ordinary reporting categories miss. The findings are based on self-reported experiences from heterosexual women in Australia and do not represent all women, other genders, every country or verified platform records. The Minderoo Foundation funded the work, and BIT Australia conducted the research.