The rise of dating apps on smartphones has given rise to a rather perverse fad: the sending of unsolicited nude photos. More commonly known as “dick pics” or “penis pics” (since the trend is more prevalent among men than women), these photos have become a nuisance for many people. Dating service Bumble hopes to improve the situation by making its porn picture filter tool available.
98% effective in filtering out dick spikes
In a blog post posted on October 24, the company announced that it is making its tool dubbed Detector AI, which uses neural networks to detect and block the sending of unwanted pornographic photos, open source. “Private Detector works by automatically blurring nude images […] You will then be notified, and it is up to you whether you want to see or block the image“, explains the company.
Bumble hopes to convince other services to adopt this technology, already in place on its dating app, to fight against the sending of this kind of clichés. Full installation instructions are available on the GitHub repository linked to the project. Making the source code available means that anyone developing a messaging app can embed the tool into their service. “There is a need to address this issue beyond the Bumble ecosystem and start a broader conversation about how to deal with the problem of sending obscene unsolicited photos.“, continues the firm.
Already in 2019, Bumble boasted that its AI was able to detect “98% of pictures” of male sexes posted on its platform. This greatly reduces the volume of potentially shocking photos received by people who did not ask for so much. Since then, many legislative and technological responses have been proposed to combat this problem. In the Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a new offense (punishable by two years in prison) has been created to tackle the sending of unwanted sexual photos.Finland introduced a similar measure in 2020.
One to three years in prison in France
More recently, Instagram started filtering out unsolicited penis photos. In France, no specific law has emerged to condemn these acts, but the sending of dick pics remains firmly condemned by a range of already existing laws. As summarized very well in a document made available by the Center Hubertine Auclert, sending unsolicited photos of a sexual nature may fall under article 621-1 of the Penal Code or other laws condemning the exhibition or sexual harassment (articles 222-33 and 222-34 of the Penal Code). Penalties can go up to €45,000 in fines and three years in prison.
According to a 2018 study by IFOP, more than two out of three women have already been victims of at least one form of harassment on a dating platform, with 42% having received unsolicited photos of sexual organs. Faced with such a phenomenon, technological and legislative solutions are therefore welcome while waiting to succeed, who knows, in changing mentalities.