A new app called Duolicious has earned a reputation as the dating app of choice for users of the controversial messageboard 4chan, and has garnered attention for the truly batshit contents of some of its users’ profiles.
Over the past year the app has gained traction to the point where it reportedly has over 50,000 users. That’s a tiny amount compared to the globe-straddling likes of Tinder, Bumble, Grindr and Hinge, but it’s a significant number for a dating app with such a niche target audience.
That niche appears to incorporate conspiracy theories, far-right wing political ideology, occasional thoughts of violence, alleged catfishing, both male and female involuntary celibates, and all the other good stuff commonly associated with 4chan.
The makers of Duolicious, which is available as a web app and on Google Play but not Apple’s App Store, said it was “only meant to be a meme app“. Still, it seems to have taken on a life of its own, going viral recently partly due to its somewhat unique personality-driven matching algorithm.
Duolicious users are asked questions in the app to help define their personalities, and match them with other users of similar mindsets. Some of the questions seem to be leading users to the political right somewhat, such as, “Is cancel culture a threat to free speech?” and, “Are there too many laws for things which are none of the government’s business?”
Duolicious’ creators said that just because most of the app’s users are active on 4chan, it shouldn’t be assumed that they are all of the same radical right-wing mindset.
They wrote that “almost all Duolicious users also use 4chan, which probably affects the results significantly and in ways which might not be immediately obvious. For example, although 4chan is reputed to be radically conservative, female Duolicious users are still significantly less conservative than males.”
“About 90 percent of female users believe countries should provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, compared to about 40 percent of men. Even age demographics of male and female users [on 4chan] differ significantly, with the average man being 26 years old, and the average woman being 23,” they added.
The question, ‘Do you care if loads of your app users are uploading fake profiles?’”’ doesn’t seem to be so pertinent in Duolicious’ creation. The makers of the app claim that users have not shown much demand for profiles to be verified, and it’s easy to quickly create a profile using fake images, with little verification beyond email confirmation.
Measures against bad behavior from users seem to be similarly overlooked. The app’s makers say that “acts of racism, intolerance, hate, or violence” are “completely unacceptable”, but any crackdowns on such acts are down to reports from users.
Messages allegedly sent on Duolicious recently, from men, women and nonbinary people, suggest that chivalry is not the name of the game. Messages screen-grabbed and shared on social media include, “I’m gonna weld your nuts to your bootyhole with how hot I will blow you.”
Other messages allegedly sent on the app have included murder fantasies against members of specific ethnic groups. Fake profiles have allegedly depicted individuals such as US President Joe Biden, and Mashable reported that one user was catfishing on the app using photos of a black male.
Most Duolicious users, however, don’t use many photos on their profiles at all, instead preferring memes or cartoons.
The app’s slogan is “Online dating, but based and true love-pilled”. But, perhaps predictably for a product focused on the 4chan community, the results probably haven’t been as romantic as hoped.
