Open AccessTOP 5 TINDER HACKS! BLACKBOXING ALGORITHMS IN THE DATING APP INDUSTRY
Author(s) -
David Myles,
Martin Blais
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
selected papers of internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2162-3317
DOI - 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12216
Subject(s) - construct (python library) , computer science , algorithm , context (archaeology) , rhetorical question , exploit , ideology , artificial intelligence , world wide web , sociology , computer security , law , history , politics , programming language , literature , political science , archaeology , art
Tinder’s swipe feature operates algorithms that have influenced a newgeneration of dating apps. In this paper, we argue that the mystique surrounding Tinder’salgorithms is as productive for the dating app industry as the actual technical operationsthey perform. We seek to understand how actors in the dating industry construct matchmakingalgorithms as strategic unknowns that can be harnessed to reach commercial objectives. To doso, we mobilize the notion of ‘algorithmic blackboxing’ – how actors strategically constructalgorithms as black boxes to reach certain goals – to analyze a corpus of 48 online datingguides that offer ‘best advice’ to exploit Tinder’s matchmaking algorithms. Our analysisshows that dating guides overwhelmingly construct Tinder’s algorithms as black boxes whosesecrets must be unlocked for users to generate matches and, therefore, find love. Thealleged unintelligibility and opacity of Tinder’s algorithms allow self-proclaimed ‘datingexperts’ to sell their advice or services in the context of a speculative dating economy. Toobtain more matches, dating guides promote a common injunction: to hack Tinder. They inviteusers to modulate their behaviors and practices to become more algorithmically recognizable.Dating guides also readily invoke rhetorical arguments that draw on statistical dataproduced by Tinder, which highlights the emergence of new ‘regimes of truth’ within thematchmaking industry that enact a dataist ideology. We conclude by advocating for theimportance of critically examining the increasing algorithmic mediation of dating culturesat the intersection of Internet, gender, and sexuality studies.