Swipe at Your Own Risk: Do Dating Apps Owe Their Users a Duty of Care?: ICLG 2026 Expert Analysis Chapter
In February 2026, ICLG published the “The International Comparative Legal Guide - Litigation & Dispute Resolution 2026” in which Greg Lascelles and Demica Kaur Nettleford navigate the legal complexities of dating apps.
Social media has reshaped how people connect, but dating apps take this a step further by actively facilitating offline encounters—raising serious real-world safety concerns. This chapter examines whether platforms like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge may owe a duty of care to users harmed by others, and explores how negligence law and the UK’s Online Safety Act 2023 frame that debate. Using dating apps as a focal case study, it considers the evolving legal and regulatory landscape surrounding platform responsibility for user safety.
