Demand a Digital Duty of Care: Make Dating Apps Safer for Australian Women

We are only 10 signatures away from 100! Please share this link with just one friend today to help us cross the line.

The Problem
Right now, dating apps are operating with a massive safety gap, and users are paying the price. A groundbreaking September 2026 study by the Behavioural Insights Team and the Minderoo Foundation revealed a horrifying reality: 99% of heterosexual women surveyed in Australia have experienced harmful or abusive behavior on a dating app in just the past three months.
We are not just talking about awkward conversations. Online spaces are being weaponized:
95% of women have faced psychological and emotional abuse online.
89% have experienced stalking or digital monitoring.
Nearly 6 in 10 (60%) have received explicit threats of physical harm.

Worse still, the system is broken. Of the women who received physical threats, only 22% reported them to the platform. Why? Because users don't trust these apps to protect them. When these interactions move offline, the danger follows—Australian Institute of Criminology data shows that 1 in 3 dating app users have experienced in-person physical or sexual violence from someone they met on an app.

Why This Matters Right Now
Dating companies profit off our desire for connection, but they are not doing enough to protect us from predators. Australia is currently debating new "Digital Duty of Care" laws. This is our moment to demand that dating platforms are legally forced to implement "Safety by Design"—including stricter user verification, transparent reporting, and immediate bans for abusive individuals.
 
 Our Call to Action
We are calling on the Australian Federal Government, the Minister for Communications, and the eSafety Commissioner to legally bind dating app corporations under strict digital duty of care legislation.
Sign this petition to demand that tech companies take responsibility, fix their reporting systems, and put human safety over corporate profit.