BlackPeopleMeet

Warning: *Privacy Not Included with this product

BlackPeopleMeet

Match Group
Wi-Fi

Review date: March 15, 2024

|
|

Mozilla says

|
People voted: Very creepy

BlackPeopleMeet is a dating app targeted toward Black men and women, although anyone can sign up to the app regardless of race. Launched in 2002, BlackPeopleMeet claims to be the #1 dating app to meet Black singles. The only personal information you'll need to give when signing up is gender, birth date, zip code, and email. Users can browse profiles and look for matches for free. Messaging potential matches is only available as a premium feature with a paid subscription. Other subscription perks include read receipts and a chance to see who's interested in you. And anyone can try the Promote Me feature, where you buy and spend tokens to boost your profile to the top of search results for a limited time. With BlackPeopleMeet, there's no need to bother with any other dating sites -- at least that's what they say in their app page in the Google Play Store. Unfortunately, their privacy is not so good -- maybe you should bother to find another more privacy protecting app.

What could happen if something goes wrong?

BlackPeopleMeet was acquired by global dating app Goliath, the Match Group back in 2009 when the app was just seven years old. If you haven't heard of Match Group, you probably know their 40+ dating apps which include the likes of BLK, OkCupid, Tinder, Hinge, and many, many more. That doesn't bode well for BPM since Match Group's track record for privacy and security is not good.

First, let's take a gander at the Match Group. In 2022, the United States Federal Trade Commission filed a petition against Match Group Inc. to force them to hand over documents about a possible data-sharing deal between one of their apps and an AI company, where images of users’ faces were reportedly used to train facial recognition software. Match Group-owned Tinder was also hit with lawsuits about their photo verification feature in 2022 and 2023. One says that the app didn't get proper consent from users to process their biometric information and the other claims the feature “verified” a fake account created with the plaintiff's stolen photos. Yikes. In 2023, research by Cybernews found that a simple hack would make it possible to “track [Match Group-owned] OkCupid users and find their exact location.” Whoa. So like we said, BlackPeopleMeet's parent company has not been known for their security or transparency. Match Group's shaky track record makes us a little nervous about their eagerness to double down the privacy minefield of AI integration. That's something we'll be keeping a close eye on.

How about BlackPeopleMeet's policies? Well, for starters, like most dating apps, they sure can collect a lot of information about you. There’s information you give about yourself when you set up your account like your contact information, gender, and who you’d like to meet. Your profile information, the photos you upload, your sexual orientation, interests, and more. Some of that data is sensitive, so you should know that their privacy policy says that just sharing it counts as consenting to Match Group's processing of it. "Where you provide such elements to us, you consent to us using it for the purposes identified and as laid out in this Privacy Policy." Then there’s the information that’s collected automatically when you use the app. Your IP address, device information, your activity, when you're online, and who you interact with. Oh and your geolocation! Even while you're not using the app. And did we mention your chats? You should know that other humans, besides your conversation partner, might be able to read those -- in the interest of keeping users from engaging in harmful or illegal behavior. Your conversations also help train BlackPeopleMeet's message-filtering tools.

Besides information you give and your app usage, BPM can collect even more information about you from “partners” and affiliates like those other sites owned by Match Group. And they can create inferences about your “preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes” based on what else they know about you. Oy.

As for what BlackPeopleMeet has in store for all that information... Well, they can use it for reasons that won't likely help Black people meet -- like showing you targeted ads. They also share it around quite a bit. Like with those other Match Group companies. Their privacy policy says they can share “non-personal information” and “de-identified” information for targeted ads on Match Group’s services and on third party apps and websites too. And we should point out that researchers say it can be easy to re-identify that data. BlackPeopleMeet may also share your personal information with law enforcement, when it’s required by law or to “assist in the prevention or detection of crime (subject in each case to applicable law).” That’s pretty standard and Match Group does have some pretty clear guidelines around how they share user data with law enforcement, which we like to see.

And when it's not being shared on purpose, we're worried your account information could be exposed accidentally because BlackPeopleMeet doesn't meet our Minimum Security Standards. They let users use simple and easy-to-hack passwords -- which puts your private information at risk. You can do better, BPM.

This is the part where we'd love to give you some good news. Like surely you can access and delete your personal information? But sadly, maybe not. It's unclear whether all users, regardless of where they live, have that right. What a bummer. So what could go wrong? Well because BlackPeopleMeet allows really weak passwords, someone could easily guess your password, break into your account, and send rude DMs on your behalf, besmirching your good name (and face). We also wonder if that risk is worth it -- especially since love on Match Group-owned apps might be a losing game. A lawsuit filed February 2024 in the United States against claims Match Group’s apps are designed to "coerce subscriptions and retain users forever" by dangling the possibility of establishing an "off-app relationship while implementing features to keep users on the app." Yeesh. That's always a danger when a happy ending is bad for business.

Tips to protect yourself

- Check out BlackPeopleMeet Dating safety tips
- Visit the app's privacy preferences at the app and opt out from personalized advertising as well as all non-essential data collection.
- Request your data be deleted once you stop using the app. Simply deleting an app from your device usually does not erase your personal data nor does close your account.
- Do not give consent to constant geolocation tracking by the app. Better provide geolocation 'only when using the app'.
- Do not share sensitive data through the app.
- Do not give access to your photos and video or camera.
- Do not log in using third-party accounts.
- Do not connect to any third party via the app, or at least make sure that a third party employs decent privacy practices.
- Do not give consent for sharing of personal data for marketing and advertising.
- Chose a strong password! You may use a password control tool like 1Password, KeePass etc.
- Do not use social media plug-ins.
- Use your device privacy controls to limit access to your personal information via app (do not give access to your camera, microphone, images, location unless necessary).
- Keep your app regularly updated.
- Limit ad tracking via your device (eg on iPhone go to Privacy -> Advertising -> Limit ad tracking) and biggest ad networks (for Google, go to Google account and turn off ad personalization).
- When starting a sign-up, do not agree to tracking of your data if possible.

  • mobile

Can it snoop on me? information

Camera

Device: N/A

App: Yes

Microphone

Device: N/A

App: Yes

Tracks location

Device: N/A

App: Yes

What can be used to sign up?

What data does the company collect?

How does the company use this data?

We ding this product as it may share vast amounts of data for advertising purposes.

Privacy Policy

"When you complete your profile, you have the option to share your religion and ethnicity with us. Where you provide such elements to us, you consent to us using it for the purposes identified and as laid out in this Privacy Policy. You can also share with us additional information, such as details on your personality, lifestyle, interests and other details about you, as well as content such as photos and videos. To add certain content, like pictures or videos, you may allow us to access your camera or photo album."

"In addition to the information you may provide us directly, we receive information about you from others, including:
Users
Users may provide information about you as they use our services, for instance as they interact with you or if they submit a report involving you.
Social Media
You may decide to share information with us through your social media account, for instance if you decide to create and log into your BlackPeopleMeet account via your social media or other account (e.g., Facebook, Google or Apple) or to upload onto our services information such as photos from one of your social media accounts (e.g., Facebook or Instagram).
Affiliates
BlackPeopleMeet is part of the Match Group family of businesses. Match Group considers the safety and security of users a top priority. If you were banned from another Match Group service, your information can be shared with us to allow us to take necessary actions, including closing your account or preventing you from creating an account on our services.
Other Partners
We may receive information about you from our partners, including when BlackPeopleMeet accounts can be created through a partner’s service (in which case they pass along registration information to us) or where BlackPeopleMeet ads are published on a partner’s service (in which case they may pass along details on a campaign’s success). Where legally allowed, we can also receive information about suspected or convicted bad actors from third parties as part of our efforts to ensure our users’ safety and security."

"Read on for a more detailed explanation of the various reasons for which we use your information, together with practical examples.
<...>
C. To provide offers and operate advertising and marketing campaigns

Perform and measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns on our services and marketing our services off our platform
Communicate with you about products or services that we believe may interest you"

"We use vendors to help us operate, distribute, market and improve our services, such as data hosting and maintenance, analytics, customer care, marketing, advertising, payment processing and security operations. We also share information with vendors who distribute and assist us in advertising our services. For instance, we may share limited information on you in hashed, non-human readable form to advertising partners."

"BlackPeopleMeet is part of the Match Group family of businesses. We share your information with affiliates for limited legitimate purposes as laid out below:
to make all Match Group platforms safer, by making sure that when a bad actor is found on one of them (for instance on our services), it is not only addressed there (for instance by banning them), but also on the others.
for them to assist us in data processing operations, as service providers, upon our instructions and on our behalf. Their assistance may include technical processing operations, such as data hosting and maintenance, customer care, marketing and targeted advertising, analytics, finance and accounting assistance, improving our service, securing our data and systems and fighting against spam, abuse, fraud, infringement and other wrongdoings.
in order to improve your chances at building significant connections with others, we may make you visible on other Match Group services or allow you to benefit from cross-platform functionalities. We will of course comply with applicable law and, where relevant, notify you of any such opportunity and allow you to agree or to refuse. Examples of such opportunities may include the creation of a new service within Match Group, addressing a specific demographic that we think might be interesting to you based on your profile.
for other legitimate business purposes including corporate audit, analysis and consolidated reporting, where and as allowed under applicable laws."

"We may use and share non-personal information (meaning information that, by itself, does not identify who you are such as device information, general demographics, general behavioral data, geolocation in de-identified form), as well as personal information in hashed, non-human readable form, under any of the above circumstances. We may also share this information with other Match Group companies and third parties (notably advertisers) to develop and deliver targeted advertising on our services and on websites or applications of third parties, and to analyze and report on advertising you see. We may combine this information with additional non-personal information or personal information in hashed, non-human readable form collected from other sources. More information on our use of cookies and similar technologies can be found in our Cookie Policy."

CCPA Privacy Notice Addendum

In the last 12 months, BlackPeopleMeet may have shared the following information for purposes including "providing advertising or marketing services", "providing analytics services", " or providing similar services":
"Identifiers such as a real name, alias, postal address, unique personal identifier (such as a device identifier; cookies, beacons, pixel tags, mobile ad identifiers and similar technology; customer number, unique pseudonym, or user alias; telephone number and other forms of persistent or probabilistic identifiers), online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, account name, Social Security number, driver’s license number, passport number, and other similar identifiers"
"Signature, physical characteristics or description, state identification card number, education, bank account number, credit card number, debit card number, other financial information, and medical information"
"Characteristics of protected classifications under California or federal law, such as race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, disability, citizenship status, and military and veteran status"
"Commercial information, including records of personal property, products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, and other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies"
"Internet and other electronic network activity information, including, but not limited to, browsing history, search history, and information regarding your interaction with websites, applications or advertisements"
"Geolocation data, including precise geolocation information"
"Audio, electronic, visual, and similar information"
"Professional or employment-related information"
"Inferences drawn from any of the information identified above to create a profile about you reflecting your preferences, characteristics, psychological trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, abilities, and aptitudes."
"Contents of your messages on our services"

"Some of the information we collect also constitutes “sensitive personal information” under the CCPA, including information that reveals your social security, driver’s license, state identification card, or passport number, precise geolocation, racial or ethnic origin, sex life or sexual orientation, religious or philosophical beliefs, biometric information, and contents of your messages. We do not use sensitive personal information we collect for purposes other than providing and improving our services to you and protecting our services and our community, and we do not use sensitive personal information to infer characteristics about you."

"We do not “sell” or “share” your personal information so no opt out choice is necessary. This means that we do not sell, share, rent, release, disclose, disseminate, make available, transfer, or otherwise communicate in any way your personal information to another company for monetary or other valuable consideration or for cross-context behavioral advertising."

How can you control your data?

We ding this product as it is unclear if all users regardless of location can get their data deleted.

Privacy policy

"We also want you to be aware of your privacy rights. Here are a few key points to remember:

Access/know. You may have the right to request a copy of the information we keep about you, and in certain circumstances to receive this in a portable format. To do so, please contact us here.
Delete/erase. You may request that we delete the personal information we keep about you. You can exercise your right to delete by submitting a request here."

"We keep your personal information only as long as we need it for legitimate business purposes <...> and as permitted by applicable law. If you decide to stop using our services, you can close your account and your profile will stop being visible to other users. Note that we will close your account automatically if you are inactive for a period of two years. After your account is closed, we will delete your personal information, as laid out below:
To protect the safety and security of our users, we implement a safety retention window of three months following account closure. During this period, we keep your information in the event that it might be necessary to investigate unlawful or harmful conducts. The retention of information during this safety retention window is based on our legitimate interest as well as that of potential third-party victims."

What is the company’s known track record of protecting users’ data?

Bad

In November 2022, the parent company Match Group Inc. was accused in a lawsuit from Tinder users of breaching a state privacy law in Illinois by collecting data on people’s faces from dating app selfies.

The FTC filed a petition on May 26, 2022 to force Match, owned by the parent company Match Group Inc., to comply with a civil investigative demand for documents related to an alleged 2014 data-sharing deal between Match subsidiary OkCupid and Clarifai Inc, an artificial intelligence company.

In September 2023, a New Jersey woman filed a class action suit against Tinder, owned by the parent company Match Group Inc., claiming that the app's photo verification feature failed by verifying an account that was created using stolen images of her.

In December 2023, the research by Cybernews into OkCupid, owned by the parent company Match Group Inc., uncovered that a hacker could uncover a distance from them to the victim (any user of the app) in a 10 to 20-meter radius. "With a few simple steps, we can easily track anyone on OkCupid in a given city – from home, to work, to social gatherings, to wherever. This is a terrible blow to users’ privacy."

In February 2024, BlackPeopleMeet parent company Match Group was accused in a lawsuit of making their apps addictive and putting profit over their customers' relationship goals.

In March, 2024, Match Group owned Tinder, following a lengthy dialogue with the European Commission, committed to " inform consumers that discounts they propose for premium services are personalised by automated means." "The network of national consumer authorities found that Tinder applied such personalised prices without informing consumers, which is in violation of EU consumer law. In addition, until April 2022, Tinder used to offer lower prices for their premium services based on age without informing the users. Tinder stopped this practice before the investigation started."

Child Privacy Information

"Our services are restricted to individuals who are 18 years of age or older. We do not permit individuals under the age of 18 on our platform. If you suspect that a user is under the age of 18, please use the reporting mechanism available on the service."

Can this product be used offline?

No

User-friendly privacy information?

No

Links to privacy information

Does this product meet our Minimum Security Standards? information

No

Encryption

Yes

The parent company Match Group shared with us that "All data stores containing personal data must be encrypted at rest and in transit. Data at rest uses the latest key technologies to cover hybrid data infrastructure, including keys that are created and managed utilizing the latest KMS key policies. Data in transit must utilize predefined SSL policies of TLS-1-1-2017-01 or similar ciphers. MG Security Engineering has an encryption standard that documents the process and procedures and is shared across our brands."

Strong password

No

The password requirement is 'at least 2 characters'. We believe that is not a strong enough requirement.

Security updates

Yes

Manages vulnerabilities

Yes

"Black People Meet welcomes input from the security research community to advance the cause of improving the security of our applications and user data. To that end, we encourage security researchers to responsibly disclose any potential vulnerabilities uncovered to [email protected]. Reports received through this channel will receive a prompt reply, and if you do not receive such a response, we ask that you please attempt to contact us again. To protect our users, we also request that you please refrain from sharing information about any potential vulnerabilities with anyone outside of Black People Meet, until we have confirmed with you that any such vulnerability has been properly mitigated.
Black People Meet's bug bounty program is private and inclusion is by invite only. Researchers who follow generally accepted responsible disclosure practices and submit quality reports to our Security team will be evaluated for inclusion at our discretion. We explicitly prohibit testing Denial of Service (DoS) or use of automated scanning tools against any of our applications or infrastructure."

Privacy policy

Yes

Does the product use AI? information

Can’t Determine

Is this AI untrustworthy?

Can’t Determine

What kind of decisions does the AI make about you or for you?

Is the company transparent about how the AI works?

Can’t Determine

Does the user have control over the AI features?

Can’t Determine

*Privacy Not Included

Dive Deeper

  • Swiped: How dating apps harm marginalized communities
    MIT Media Lab Link opens in a new tab
  • Popular dating app leak puts millions of women at risk
    Cybernews Link opens in a new tab
  • Match Group leans into AI with new team
    Mashable Link opens in a new tab
  • Pssst! Match.com does not want you to know about this FTC case
    Reuters Link opens in a new tab
  • Match Group releases its guiding principles for integrating AI into its dating apps
    Fast Company Link opens in a new tab
  • How Match.com is using AI to make its user experience 'more human'
    IAB Link opens in a new tab

Comments

Got a comment? Let us hear it.