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:
Chinese | Pinyin | English |
---|---|---|
约炮 | Yuēpào | Meet for sex |
约吗 | Yuē ma? | Meet for sex? |
包夜 | Bāoyè | Overnight services |
月拋 | Yuèpāo | Pun on “meet for sex” |
炮友 | Pàoyóu | Hookup buddy |
啪啪啪 | Pāpāpā | Sexual sound |
活儿好 | Huóer hǎo | Good in bed |
开房 | Kāifáng | Get a room |
祼体 | Guàntǐ | Nude body |
祼照 | Luǒzhào | Nude photo |
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]