Revealing pics: Tinder put on Russia’s list of companies obliged to share data with law enforcement

Roskomnadzor, the Russian media watchdog, has placed popular dating service Tinder on a special list which obliges the company to disclose personal data of users on the request of Russian law enforcement agencies.

The watchdog placed the dating app on its list of “providers of information distribution” on Monday. Such a designation means the service will be obliged to store all user content for half a year, as well as to disclose personal data and decryption keys on request of any of the Russian law enforcement agencies.

Roskomnadzor announced the move by posting quite a recycled meme, titled “How I meet the girls,” on its Twitter account. The caption reads: “On the internet – Hi, babe!; In real life – Hi, I'm Vityusha! [diminutive for Viktor].”

The move itself and the way it was announced was met with quite a mixed reaction on the web. Some users accused the watchdog of “stealing” the meme and alleging “copyright infringement.”

Others joked about law enforcement desiring to have a “d*** pic database” of its own and said it was high time to upload such content to Tinder.

According to Roskomnadzor, the company has voluntarily provided all necessary information on the list. It remained unclear, however, if it will actually abide by the personal information disclosure rules or not.

Roskomnadzor has been entangled in a lengthy row with another popular social media platform – Telegram Messenger. The latter was placed on the list as well, yet refused to disclose the required data to Russian law enforcement. Telegram's resistance prompted court hearings and ultimately a blanket ban on it in Russia. That, however, was not very effective as the messenger app is still working on the mobile devices of Russian users.

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