Would you trust Facebook Dating with your secret crushes?

Updated October 13, 2022

Published September 6, 2019

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After launching in Colombia a year ago, Facebook Dating is now available in the US and 19 other countries.

Facebook users can create a dating profile via the Facebook app. Compatible dating suggestions are made based on interests and preferences, selected out of extended friendship circles and Instagram followers – steering clear of your closer friendships.

However, there is also an option to select up to nine ‘Secret Crushes’, including friends. Facebook promises high security over your dating activity, and will only notify your crush anonymously if they have created a dating profile too. Only once they’ve selected you back, making it a match, will your identity be revealed.

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Other features, of course, include adding Facebook and Instagram stories to your profile, over the typical image and text interface of most dating apps.

“This format lets you be authentic in a way that a typical dating profile can’t, and it helps you get to know someone before and after you match.”
Facebook

In an attempt to make dating that little bit safer, Facebook offers users the option to share details of a date, or even your live location, with a someone you trust.

What about safety of data? Facebook says it can keep a secret, but its track record has proven otherwise. The latest of its numerous data breaches resulted in 419 million phone numbers and Facebook usernames being stored in an unsecured database. Considering Facebook’s history, along with the incredulous amounts of dating data hacking across the board, can Facebook of all, be trusted with something as personal as our ‘Secret Crushes’?

Though it won’t be available in Europe until early next year, Facebook Dating is currently open to people in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Suriname, Thailand, Uruguay, the US, and Vietnam, provided you’re happy handing even more data over to the company.

Article by

Oli Lipski

Oli is a freelance sex tech researcher based in London. With an MA in Sexual Dissidence, researching sex tech, and a BA in History, researching gender and sexuality, she has a keen understanding of the past, present and future of sex. In addition to SEXTECHGUIDE, you can find Oli’s work on titles such as shado-mag, QueerMajority, UnicornZine and more.

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