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Criminal Law Risks of Using Mobile Dating Apps

Arseniy A. Bimbinov (2024) — Russian Journal of Criminology 18(2), 181–190

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DOI: 10.17150/2500-4255.2024.18(2).181-190 (opens in a new tab)

Country:   Russia
Tags:   Catfishing, Criminal Law, Extortion, Intimate Content, Mobile Dating Apps, Online Safety, Privacy Violations, Romance Scams
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Synopsis

            
The article by Arseniy A. Bimbinov examines criminal law risks associated with using mobile dating apps, presenting interim findings from a study of how these platforms affect safety and accountability. It distinguishes two broad risk categories: first, harms that can befall users at the hands of others (victimization or crimes committed against them); second, harms that can occur when the perpetrator’s actions are not obviously illegal. The author argues that the growth in dating app use worldwide correlates with rising risk exposure, including to privacy violations, extortion, fraud, and illicit dissemination of intimate materials. A central theme is the exploitation of trust within romantic, friendly, or other relationships formed through dating apps. The article highlights cases and criminological observations suggesting that actions such as extortion, fraud, and violations of privacy can be shaped by the unique online dating environment, including the exchange of intimate content and the potential for non-obvious wrongdoing. It also notes that many users and app operators underestimate criminal liability for certain behaviors, especially when the legality of the act is not readily apparent to the violator. The discussion includes how criminal liability can hinge on the broader conduct surrounding online interactions, including the dissemination of explicit material and the manipulation of trust. Beyond describing risks, the author reports on research methods and expert/user surveys conducted under a Russian Science Foundation project, and discusses implications for policy and practice. The paper concludes with recommendations aimed at safer app use and calls for robust moderation and awareness to reduce both victimization and the misperception of criminal risk in the online dating landscape.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
The article states that Russia lacks specialized research on the socioeconomic consequences of catfishing. It also identifies legal ambiguity around criteria for defining pornography, which creates uncertainty about criminal liability for exchanging intimate content.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
The study reports interim results from a Russian Science Foundation project. It surveyed more than 1,100 people about dating-app behavior, compared these results with a parallel expert survey, and conducted an eight-month in-app experiment by the author and two female volunteers. It also reviewed dating-culture publications and judicial-investigative materials.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
The article presents interim project results and does not provide detailed sampling, recruitment, questionnaire, analytic, or experimental-protocol information. Its conclusions are primarily framed through Russian criminal law and court practice, limiting direct transferability to other legal systems.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Develop mass-facing social-advertising materials on safe dating-app use, in collaboration with Moscow city authorities and Kutafin Moscow State Law University initiatives.

          

              

    
    

        
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