As we all know - words are powerful. They can be used to lift people up, but sometimes they’re intended to cause harm. At Badoo, we believe it’s unacceptable to be abusive in any form – online or offline. That’s why we’re introducing Rude Message Detector: a clever, multilingual language processor that’s designed to protect our community from harmful messages within our app.

How does Rude Message Detector work?

Rude Message Detector is trained to detect any text that could be perceived as rude, abusive, homophobic or discriminatory. It’s been fine-tuned through over 2 million messages and recognises 100 languages. When a member receives a message within our app that could be harmful or hurtful to the reader, thanks to the model we’re able to check in with the member in real-time through a pop-up message. We give them the control to dismiss it if they're comfortable with the language used. If they aren’t, we encourage the receiver to report the conversation directly through the pop-up message and signpost how they can do this.

In serious instances, Badoo will also proactively investigate and take action against the user who sent the harmful message. We don’t tolerate bad behaviour on our platform – and we don’t want our community to have to, either.

What sort of messages does Rude Message Detector flag?

Rude Message Detector has been taught to identify messages within 3 different categories:

• Sexual - any messages with clear sexual connotations, and overly-sexual comments on physical appearance.
• Insults - any direct insults to the reader.
• Identity hate - any discrimination or attack against race, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religion.

Rude Message Detector is able to identify the difference between daters using words to express themselves in a fun, non-offensive way, and ascertain when messages could be harmful.

At Badoo, we’re committed to creating a safe space for our community to chat and connect with new people. As well as Rude Message Detector, we’ve previously launched Screenshot Block, and banned body shaming, racism, homophobia, and hate speech.

We want to make sure you’re as supported as possible on your dating journey – and with the introduction of these safety features, we hope to leave you more time to focus on the great parts.