Tinder Age Change: Users Below 18 To Be Banned From App [VIDEO]

Well, Tinder sure took its time. Starting next week, users of the popular dating app who are aged 13 to 17 would not be able to use the firm's services anymore. The change in the company's policy was confirmed by Tinder VP of Communications Rosette Pambakian.

In a statement to Tech Crunch, the Tinder VP stated that the firm decided to remove minors from its user base simply because it is the right thing to do.

"On a platform that has facilitated over 11 billion connections, we have the responsibility of constantly assessing our different user experiences. Consistent with this responsibility, we have decided to discontinue service for under 18 users. We believe this is the best policy moving forward. This change will take effect next week," Pambakian stated.

The popular dating app has received flak over the years for allowing minors as young as 13 years old to use the firm's services since the company was started back in 2012. Despite reservations from groups due to the risky aspect of matching teenagers for casual meetups, Tinder maintained then that the firm would only allow hookups among users within the same age bracket.

Thus, Tinder users aged 13 to 17 would only be able to see profiles that are from the same age pool.

Nevertheless, Tinder's reputation of fostering casual sexual encounters based solely on looks has not done well to promote the company's stance on allowing minors to use its services. Apart from this, the danger of having predators creating teenage dummy accounts was also a cause for concern.

With Tinder's decision, the risks of very casual, most possibly sexual encounters would be limited only to people who are 18 years old and above. Though the company took a pretty long time to enforce the age restriction on the app, the fact that it decided to do so is undoubtedly a definitive step towards the right direction.

Pambakian stated that Tinder is convinced that imposing age restrictions on the app is the correct decision.

"We've been reviewing this policy since early this year and believe it's the right thing to do. A number of factors go into making a decision like this, but we're confident we landed on the right policy," she said.

Teenagers comprise less than 3 percent of Tinder's global user base, translating to about a million users.