Bumble Just Got Rid of Its Political Filter

Bumble Just Got Rid of Its Political Filter

The app temporarily disabled the feature after the Capitol Hill attack.

UPDATE Jan. 15, 2020, 3:00p.m. EST: Bumble released a statement to InStyle, writing, "In the days following the attack on our nation's Capitol, we saw a noticeable uptick in people using the politics filter in a manner contrary to our terms and conditions, including people who have used our platform to spread insurrectionist content or who have attempted to organize and incite terrorism."

The statement added that Bumble removed the political affiliation filter on Jan. 13 "while we took the steps necessary to ensure we had the proper moderation tools and protocols in place," and the feature has now been reinstated in the U.S.

"We always encourage our community to block and report anyone who is acting against our guidelines, and we have already banned users who have used our platform to spread insurrectionist content or who have attempted to organize and incite terrorism," the statement continued."

"Our team has an increased focus on the DC area and across the United States and are closely monitoring all activity now and through inauguration. Where our AI technology flags photos, hate symbols or text content that promotes the insurrection or related activities, those are removed, with repeated offenses or more extreme content resulting in a user being banned."

Previously...

Sorry, Bumble users — you won't be able to filter your dates by political affiliation, at least not for the time being.

The app has temporarily disabled the feature after the riots on Capitol Hill, citing "misuse." The filter allowed for users to filter potential matches based on their political leanings, letting people identify as "Apolitical," "Moderate," "Liberal," and "Conservative."

Last week, users began noting on Twitter that they'd seen on the app who appeared to have participated in the violent attack on Capitol Hill and suggested taking screenshots of the profiles and allegedly submitting them as evidence to the FBI after its call for information.

In a tweet that went viral, Allison Norris said a "friend of a friend" used Bumble to intentionally match with conservatives who bragged about being at the Capitol for the attack and sent their information to the FBI.

After people noticed this week that the political filter had been disabled, Bumble responded, writing to one user, "We've temporarily removed our politics filter to prevent misuse. However, please rest assured that we prohibit any content that promotes terrorism or racial hatred, and we've already removed any users that have been confirmed as participants in the attack of the US Capitol."

Bumble has also assured users the change is only temporary, but hasn't said when the feature will be reinstated. InStyle has reached out to Bumble for comment and will update this story when we get a response.

RELATED: Rep. Grace Meng on Barricading in the Capitol, Tensions Between Lawmakers, and Unease About Inauguration

In a statement to Mashable, Bumble said the app prohibits "content that encourages any illegal activity including terrorism and the incitement of violence."

"On January 6, we immediately ensured that our hate speech scanning and protocols addressed the attack on the U.S. Capitol and began removing any insurrection-related content from our platform. If we see anything that would suggest someone has or is in the process of committing a potentially criminal act we will take appropriate steps with law enforcement."