Swipe Left

How Dating Apps Betray Users and Protect Predators
Under contract with Cambridge University Press

Dating apps promise connection, but the legal rules governing them often protect the wrong people. In Swipe Left, Prof. Irina D. Manta examines how current law shields predators on dating platforms rather than the users trying to stay safe, blocking victims from warning others or verifying who they're really talking to.

The book uncovers a troubling paradox at the heart of online dating: people searching for connection are denied the background information they need to protect themselves, while bad actors invoke privacy and defamation law to silence survivors and stay hidden. Prof. Manta shows how weak platform regulation and legal intimidation tactics have created a digital dating landscape that puts women and other vulnerable users at disproportionate risk, and considers how artificial intelligence could make this landscape either safer or more dangerous going forward.