The latest entity to join the fight against hate groups is…the dating application world? Following the violence at last weekend’s white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., two of the biggest dating apps out there—OkCupid and Bumble—have made it clear they won’t allow white supremacists to swipe for love on their apps.
OkCupid tweeted out its stance after a user reported that Chris Cantwell, a well-known white supremacist featured in the recent Vice News documentary on Charlottesville, was found on the app.
"We were alerted by another dater on OkCupid who had been contacted by Cantwell recently," the company told Mashable.
OkCupid verified it really was Cantwell before making the announcement publicly.
We were alerted that white supremacist Chris Cantwell was on OkCupid. Within 10 minutes we banned him for life.
There is no room for hate in a place where you're looking for love.
If any OkCupid members come across people involved in hate groups, please report it immediately https://t.co/K6PTo8Rtlr
Mashable also spoke with OkCupid CEO Elie Seidman about the app’s decision to go public.
"We’ve been public about kicking Cantwell off of OkCupid because of our responsibility to be clear about the human values of our community—who we’re for and the kind of person to person interaction we stand for," Seidman said. "The formula for this one was easy: 'Nazi or supremacist == bad.'"
Additionally, Bumble—which prompts women to contact men first—has formed a partnership with the Anti-Defamation League, which aims to ban and remove hate speech and symbols.
Bumble released a statement saying it has been a target of harassment.
"Last week, a neo-Nazi media site published an article to their community urging them to call and email our team with harassing statements, given Bumble’s stance towards promoting women’s empowerment," the statement read.
