This documentary is true to it’s warning it does contain some upsetting scenes but everyone who is on a dating app right now or has been on one should watch this. It will shock you to your core.

I am not suggesting everyone stop swiping right now, if you come off your preferred app how are you going to meet anyone? I get it however it’s really good to at least be aware of what these apps are doing to us all, how they operate, who owns who and why we go through that repetitive cycle of deciding to delete the app in question, swearing we are done with it and then reinstalling it and setting up a new profile sometimes days if not a few weeks later.

I had no idea The Match Group owns pretty much all the well known dating apps, obviously Match dot com, but also Tinder, Hinge, OK Cupid the most widely used app in the US, Plenty of Fish and a dozen or so more dating apps. Yep one company pretty much controls the whole space globally.

I’ve never been drugged or worse still raped, and or murdered, it has happened to others and the shocking testimony not just from victims but officers of companies like Tinder and Match especially in trust and safety departments talking about secrecy in the company about these issues was truly jaw dropping.

One safety officer described profile moderating targets of 52 profiles per hour, just over a minute per profile and another suffering PTSD because of the harrowing testimony of users and the companies reluctance to put people over profit.

One senior person running a team of 20 safety officers described his executive boss being paid 4 million dollars per year and his total budget for a 20 strong team just 1 million.

Co-founder Jonathan Badeen explains how he had the 'epiphany' to let users swipe at the screen as if a pack of cards – and the amount of time users spent on the app started to skyrocket. Founders grew the app user base exponentially starting in college campus USC, University of Southern California where student fees have gained the University a new better known acronym, University of Spoilt Children. When the user base was small and very exclusive it was a massive hit. These days the user base is closer to 10,000,000, they suggest the same size as a city like London with all the criminals and weirdos you find in a big city thrown into the mix but with none of the protections.

Soon it was time to monetise the user base for the parent company Match said to be worth and estimated 3.5 billion dollars and with an addicted user base that happened quickly. Users were happy to pay for additional premium services to unlimited swiping.

I think the worst part of all was the companies understanding of the validation a match brings to the user, the dopamine hit and the underlying goal to monetise that addictive pattern of behaviour at any cost.

Users described not being able to get off tinder, constantly swiping for hours on end being in trouble at both work, university and school.

I’ve tried online dating, and whilst I didn’t experience the horror some people have described it didn’t work. I met three people in person after which I decided it didn’t work. You cannot experience chemistry on an app, that only happens in real life.

I’d recommend anyone using dating apps right now, and it’s a lot of us, a global market, to check out this documentary film. Like I said you may enjoy your dating app experience however you will learn a great deal from this film that will likely change the way you use your app and probably help you to stay safe and improve your experience.

And if you don’t use a dating app or have had a bad experience and stopped the film will help you to understand who was to blame and ease the trauma you may have experienced.