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In South Africa, the dating-app landscape is far bleaker as people’s safety has been threatened.
The Tinder disposable truck being used by disgruntled lover in India. Picture: @e4mtweets/X
Breakups are messy and leave many people in a pit of regret.
However, dating app Tinder has given people an opportunity to get rid of unwanted gifts from former lovers in the form of a disposable truck.
Aptly titled the ‘ex-press disposal truck’, the cute pink garbage truck was launched in April by Tinder India as a way of helping disgruntled lovers get rid of gifts that they received from their exes.
Tinder is a mobile dating and social discovery app that connects users with potential matches through a swipe-based system, using profile information and location to suggest compatible people.
If two people both ‘like’ each other’s profiles, they can start chatting after swiping right on each other’s profiles.
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Giving people closure
The truck is part of Tinder’s ‘Move On’ campaign, which aims to normalise the emotional aftermath of breakups and help people find closure. The truck has been seen in Mumbai as part of Tinder’s local campaign.
The truck comes with a ‘drop-off zone’ where individuals can dispose of items like love letters, hoodies, sentimental gifts, and even playlists associated with past love interests.
The fickle nature of dating apps is evident in how people quickly move on from one relationship to the next by simply swiping to the right.
The Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank based in the US that provides the public with information about pressing issues impacting the world, did a study in 2023 that found that approximately 10% of heterosexual people and 24% of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA+) people have met their long-term partner online.
Safety of dating apps
These findings suggest that dating apps are generally used for hook-ups or casual sexual encounters between people.
In South Africa, the dating-app landscape is far bleaker as people’s safety has been threatened.
The Gauteng Provincial Legislature’s portfolio committee on community safety has raised concerns about a disturbing rise in kidnappings and robberies in Johannesburg’s Maboneng precinct, linked to dating apps.
The committee made an unannounced visit to Jeppe Police Station last Friday, where it was briefed by station management on the pattern of crimes linked to online dating apps.
“During the visit, station management briefed the committee on a disturbing trend where victims from across Gauteng are lured to Maboneng through hookup apps, only to be kidnapped, robbed, or assaulted,” read the committee’s statement on the day.
It added that the criminal tactics resemble those used in the Olorato Mongale murder case, where strangers trick victims they met online or in public places, then violently attack them.
The committee spoke with concern about the recent arrest of a gang operating in Maboneng that allegedly targeted members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
“The committee condemns these crimes in the strongest terms and calls for heightened vigilance from all citizens,” the statement read.
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