Bumble's New Policy Means Body-Shamers Are Getting Banned From The App

I come bearing great news! As of Jan. 28, Bumble has officially banned body-shaming from the app, in addition to a slew of other offensive types of speech. The company has new terms and conditions that explicitly ban any sort of "unsolicited and derogatory comments made about someone’s appearance, body shape, size or health," per a press release. This sort of language includes anything "fat-phobic, ableist, racist, colorist, homophobic or transphobic." I'm so here for this.

“We have always been clear on our mission to create a kinder, more respectful, and equitable space on the internet, and our zero-tolerance policy for racist, harassing and hate-driven speech is an important part of that,” said Charlotte Brown, Engagement Manager at Bumble. “We believe in being explicit when it comes to the kind of behavior that is not welcome on our platforms and we’ve made it clear that body shaming is not acceptable on Bumble.”

How do they enforce this? Technology, duh. In addition to giving users the chance to report any body shaming they spot firsthand with the app's Block + Report tool, the tech wizards behind the app have created automated safeguards that will detect any sort of comments or images that go against their new terms and conditions, then send them over to a human moderator for review.

If something is flagged as problematic, the sender will get a warning. The moderator who flagged what they said might also even provide them with some educational tools to help them learn from their mistakes. But multiple warnings or saying something particularly problematic will lead to an automatic ban from the app.

“Our moderation team will review each report and take the appropriate action,” Brown said. “We always want to lead with education and give our community a chance to learn and improve. However, we will not hesitate to permanently remove someone who consistently goes against our guidelines.”

This isn't the first time Bumble has taken a strong stance against body shaming. Back in 2017, one of the app's users told Elite Daily she went out with one of her Bumble matches; following their date, he ghosted her, then changed his bio to, "pleeease don't be fat in real life." Once she shared her story with Elite Daily, Bumble banned the guy from the app.

Gotta love a brand that walks the walk!