Online dating is receiving a biometric upgrade: The Meet Group has announced it’s rolling out a 3D face authentication-powered verification badge to its platforms. The badge is enabled by FaceTec 3D Face Authentication – a mobile biometric software with best-in-class liveness detection capabilities – and is expected to become a foundational part of the user experience.
MeetMe users will have access to the Profile Verification Badge feature this week. The activation process will consist of users selecting the badge option, then taking a selfie. FaceTec’s AI-enhanced software will then authenticate and confirm the user’s physical living presence, and perform age estimation. Effectively, any user with a verification badge is vetted as a good faith user of the dating service, rather than a bot, fraudster, or underage person.
Earlier this month, FaceTec saw a similar integration with a new authenticity-focused social media platform called Voice. The idea there is to leverage liveness to cut down on bots, multiple accounts, and spam. With The Meet Group, FaceTec will enhance authenticity in the user base, but there is also a safety element to the technology’s use. According to The Meet Group CEO Geoff Cook, the longer-term plan is to expand FaceTec’s role in verification to include biometric profile picture matching, effectively providing full-on ID vetting.
“With the launch of the Profile Verification Badge on MeetMe, we are promoting authenticity with what we believe to be the most comprehensive verification solution in the dating industry,” said Cook. “Currently, the verification badge indicates liveness, but as the feature is adopted, we will also begin comparing the profile photo to the 3D Selfie that was used to confirm Liveness. This proves that the person in the profile photos is the one posting them – helping to ensure authenticity and end catfishing.”
Indeed, safety seems to be the motivating force behind the biometric verification badges, which is the latest in a series of protective measures The Meet Group has implemented in 2020. Prior to profile verification, The Meet Group introduced a Safer Dating Advisory Board to help navigate the risky dating landscape of the pandemic era, and it worked with Microsoft to thwart child exploitation through Project Artemis, among other user welfare efforts.
Last December, Cook outlined four areas in interactive dating that the company intended to tackle in order to eliminate abusive and untrustworthy behavior on its platforms: authenticity, age estimation, device blocking, and textual screening. Verification with FaceTec can help cross the first item off that list.
In addition to being a natural fit for a mobile-based social platform, FaceTec 3D Face Authentication is supported by an ongoing $100,000 spoof bounty, which includes provisions for advanced camera bypass attacks like biometric template tampering and video injection..
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