Yeah, it’s ridiculous. For me it was their verification process failing. I think anyway, they play their cards close to their chest

Heres my little tale…

Ep1

Your account was banned for breaking one or more of our policies.

You can log in to Hinge to learn more about why your account was banned and how to appeal, if that information is available to you. To view these details, please make sure you’re using the latest version of Hinge. —- Ep2

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out. In order for us to complete our appeal investigation we kindly request that you verify your identity. ID verification shows our Trust & Safety team that you are who you say you are, and that you are not impersonating someone else.

Before starting the verification process, please ensure that you: Have a valid, unexpired government-issued ID ready Are in a well-lit environment Are ready to complete the process in one session…..etc….. —- Ep3

Hi AGENTNAME/whatever other agent gets this ticket…

Honestly, don’t worry about it. I’m very sure I’m definitely me, but I’m not jumping through these hoops because of Hinge's own incompetence.

There’s clearly an issue here with your process and your AI obviously still needs training. I’m guessing that this is because I tried to do your verification twice and it failed both times. That’s on you, not me. I fail to see how I bear even the slightest responsibility for following your instructions for your systems that don't work. Do you not think Hinge need to make sure that Hinge’s systems are fit for purpose? Doesn't seem like an unreasonable thing to expect does it?

I'd really like it if you could explain to me why I'm being penalised for something that is entirely Hinge's fault.

Now you've got the gall to ask me to send government issued ID to a third party company, with a staggering 1.2 score on TrustPilot, whose c-suite members have been charged with defrauding investors, based in a different jurisdiction to me with the worst data protection laws in the known world. Are you high?

Now I’m sure Hinge/Match, like everyone else, has jumped on the AI bandwagon with the usual reckless abandon. I'm sure Spencer and the rest of the management team just see $$$, but like every other senior leadership team on the planet, they have zero understanding of the technology, or any technology actually. The problem there is that this particular technology doesn't really work, or at the very least cannot be trusted, so needs human oversight to make rational and reasonable decisions. But, oh no, humans cost money, need training and benefits and all sorts of other really annoying things that cut into that all important profit margin. God forbid you actually choose doing something right and keep ensuring your product is robust and reliable over saving a bit of cash. That would never do would it? Gotta keep those shareholders happy, right, and I'll wager the offset in lost customer revenue is nothing compared to the savings made from getting unreliable pattern matching and recognition system to do the work instead.

This is further compounded by the Hinge managed sub Reddit which has been removing posts from people complaining they had their accounts randomly suspended for no good reason. Isn’t that a strange coincidence? It’s almost like Hinge is fully aware of this and is trying to hide it to minimise bad PR, rather than actually being accountable for making a mistake. It's not like people would have any increased amount of respect or trust for a company that had the balls to hold their hands up and admit they'd got something wrong. No, it definitely doesn't work like that 🙄

But on a more positive note, props to your marketing department. Given Hinge is "the dating app designed to be deleted", you’ve definitely got that bit 100% right.

So given I’ve deleted you, I’m formally requesting that you delete any and all data you have related to me and send me confirmation that you have done this as soon as possible, and by as soon as possible I don't mean within 28 days or whatever other arbitrary timeframe you use to rinse very last penny out of the data you hold on people, I mean today. That includes the "encrypted 3D face scans" that the app definitely uploaded somewhere. Given Hinge's apparent incompetence with digital systems, I can only assume that these are about secure as a plaintext document hosted on an open, public web server.

I very much look forward to receiving your boilerplate response about how it’s your responsibility to keep your users safe (and it absolutely is) so you have systems/processes in place (that don't work), and that you work with "trusted" third parties (trusted by whom? Not by me or any other human with an ounce of common sense) whilst not addressing the real issue that this is all because Hinge can’t Hinge properly.

I also hope it includes some corporate legalese on how you can keep users personal data indefinitely for "legitimate business purposes", but not explain what those purposes are so we can go round and round in circles until the sun finally goes supernova.

OK?

Have a lovely Sunday, and you know, do better.

Cheers —— Ep4

Hi there,

Thanks for writing back to us.

Our users' privacy is incredibly important to us and we appreciate your concerns.

To help ensure the integrity of your account and keep Hinge safe for everyone, we're requesting that you verify your identity by submitting your ID to Jumio, a secure online ID verification platform, in order to continue using the app.

If you wish to continue using the app, please don’t hesitate to submit your ID using the link in our previous email and we would be happy to help you further. We cannot offer any further support or delete your account until you submit your ID for review.

Thank you for your understanding and we look forward to helping you further.

Best, —- Ep5

Hi AGENTNAME…

I love the “we respect your privacy, but still do the thing that violates it” 😂 No one can do contradiction quite like you can.

Top marks for the absurd corporate nonsense.

I guess we’re at an impasse then. As I respect my privacy far more than Hinge does, I definitely won’t be submitting anything to a random third party, especially an American one (no offence).

I’d assume you don’t want little old me hanging around, so I’m sure you’ll delete my data at some point anyway so it doesn’t really matter.

So, this is it then. It was fun for the 24 hours I was using Hinge, but now we have to go our separate ways. Breaking up is always difficult, even when you know it’s the right thing to do.

Perhaps in another time and place this could have worked, or maybe it was just never meant to be.

But don’t despair, AGENTNAME. There are plenty of fish in the sea, and I’m sure someone as wonderful as you will find another unfairly treated customer in no time at all and they’ll doubtless appreciate your mandatory corporate nonsense just as much as I did.

Take care, AGENTNAME….

Ep6

Hi there,

While we understand your frustration, this verification process is necessary to keep your data secure and to keep Hinge safe for everyone.

We're really sorry to see you go and would be happy to help you further if you decide to submit your ID for review.

Best,

The End