Tinder could learn a hell of a lot from this Chinese dating app

Tinder and etiquette go together like ice cream and gravel. Razor blades and salt. Americans and quiet carriages. 

Suffice to say, they just don't gel. But China's Tinder-like dating app Tantan is attempting to bring these awkward bedfellows into closer harmony - with censorship.

Tantan functions in exactly the same way as Tinder: swipe through photos to find a match, enter into private conversation and open up a world of uninspiring one-night stands.

However, after having a good poke about at the app's code, Hong Kong-based entrepreneur Larry Salibra noticed that Tantan had a list of "offensive" terms - phrases the app would flag to users before allowing them to be sent.

The app doesn't block these messages from being sent, but merely gives the user a slap across the wrists for using sexually charged language - such as the following:

China has some of the strictest internet censorship laws going - with pornography a big no-no.

Tantan could be trying to teach its users to clean up their act or have a long, hard think (sorry) before engaging in smutty chat - but Salibra speculates that the app's developers could be a pre-empting a censorship clamp-down from the government.

Either way, maybe it would be good for Tinder to copy its own clone? A red flag for phrases such as "Netflix and chill"? A block on topless selfies? An intervention on drunken complaints about "Why don't you want to come round for pizza?"?

Make it happen, Tinder.

[Via: Quartz]