Making A Safe Girlfriend Dating Profile

1. Limit The Details You Share – Your personal details, including your full name, home address, place of work, financial information, phone number, and favorite places should remain a personal to you or trusted friends. When creating your username, don’t use your first and last name – just use your first name or create a playful account username.
2. Original Photos and Social Media – Use different photos for your dating profile than your social profiles. It’s easy to do a reverse image search with Google. If your dating profile has a photo that also shows up on your Instagram or Facebook account, it will be easy for someone to find you on social media. Also, avoid using photos that make places that you and your friends frequent too obvious. Remember, not all meetups are a perfect match, and privacy is key to moving on. Additionally, don’t link any online dating sites to your social channels. This is one of the fastest ways for someone to trace you and learn all about you, your friends and family.
3. Verified For Comfort – ID verification is the quickest and easiest way to ensure the person you’re chatting with is exactly who they say they are. Verify your account and don’t hesitate to ask your potential date to get their profile verified, too. Your personal information is never shared with one another, but verification will give you the extra confidence to go out and meet in person. Still in doubt? A quick phone call or video chat is an additional, simple way to verify your date is who they say they are before you meet in person. Making sure that both you and your potential match are verified is a great way to filter out potential doubts. Did you know that Girlfriendate now has a video chat feature? Members with verified profiles or upgraded memberships can’t get enough of it! It’s an easy way to meet virtually before setting up in-person dates, and also a safe way to spend time together between dates. No need to share your email, phone number or social media handle—just some quality face-to-face time with new friends. For your safety, here are a few things to keep in mind when using the video chat:
   1. Don’t share any of your personal information
   2. Be aware of your background and avoid displaying private info in your shot
   3. While we don’t record any of your video conversations, no video chat platforms can prevent members from recording their video chats
4. Avoid Conversations – Take the appropriate measures to block and report the person who is making you feel uncomfortable. Our site provides many ways to anonymously report a member that makes you uncomfortable to make sure no one else is subject to that individual’s behavior.

 Make an effort to Date Safely. Your personal safety always comes first. As we continue to expand and enhance our safety features, we also want to help you feel more secure and confident when planning an in-person date. Here are a few things that you can do in preparation for your first in-person meeting:

1. Conduct personal research.  Doing a little background research on a date prior to your meet-up is both a very common and a very smart move. Checking social accounts to make sure that your potential match is honest in who they say they are is a great way to filter out any potential doubts, setting your mind at ease.
2. Always meet in a public place. When planning your first in-person date, remember to always meet in a public place. Should you feel any pressure to meet in a private location, stress the importance of wanting to meet in public for the first couple of dates. If your date continues to push the subject, reevaluate meeting in person or end the conversation entirely.
3. Inform close friends or family about your plans. Let a trusted friend or family member know the details of your date. There are never too many details to share when it comes to your safety.
4. Take precautionary defensive measures. Make sure your surroundings  are well light and not situated in a place which offers no exit should you need to escape any situation.
5. Consider making your first date a double date. If you can, attend your date with at least one other friend or relative to keep on eye each other in case someone is slipped a date rape drug, or appears to be drinking too much. It’s also a great way to get a second opinion if you start getting bad vibes from a date.
6. Arrange your own transportation to and from the date. Drive your own car, take public transportation, call a friend or have a rideshare app to come get you. To make sure you get home safe and sound, don’t accept a ride or walk back with your date. This would let them know where you live and may lead to unwanted assault.
7. Keep personal details private, for now. It’s always exciting getting to know someone new and sharing personal details about yourself and your immediate circle seems natural. On those initial dates, keep private details private, including your last name, address, and frequent hang-out spots, until you’ve built trust.
8. Be observant. Pay attention to the body language and facial expressions of the person you’re meeting. Overt touching at an early stage can alert you to danger and intent.
9. Always keep an eye on your food and drinks. Never leave your food or drinks unattended. Should you have to step away from the table, place a napkin over your plate, and never feel bad about requesting a new drink. Spiked drinks are not uncommon on dates.
10. Ensure your cell phone is fully charged and locations are on. Before, during, and after your date, make sure your cell phone has enough battery life, and your location settings are turned on to ensure a trusted family member or friend can track your location as needed. If you find yourself always on the move before a date, consider investing in a rechargeable cell phone case or portable charger.
11. Stay sober or make sure you limit your alcohol intake. Limit the amount of alcohol that you drink.  Becoming impaired is an easy way to make yourself vulnerable to assault.
12. Always have enough cash or a credit card on you to get home. Having some cash available to handle unexpected situations is the best way to feel comfortable when you’re on a date.
13. Trust your instinct. If your instinct is telling you something is wrong, trust your instinct. If you think someone is trying to deceive you, pay close attention to the body language. If you overlook it, you may end up regretting it later. Hanging around and trying to make it feel right is a risk not worth taking.
14. Have your “rescue me!” excuse ready. Don’t be afraid to leave a date prematurely. Come prepared and practice what you’ll say if you decide you want to leave early.
15. Don’t violate your values and ground rules. This includes not going home with your date or inviting them inside your home at the first meeting. Never feel pressured into going somewhere or doing something you are uncomfortable with.
16. Report all suspicious and offensive behaviors. If you’ve ever felt uncomfortable or disrespected while interacting with someone while on a dating site, or when you meet in person, be sure to report them through the proper channels within the respective app where you first connected. At GFD, members can ‘Report a Member’ from the user’s profile. Pick the appropriate reason from the list and provide a clear description of the violation. You may also block the individual, which will prevent them from communicating with you and from seeing your profile. Customer Support is also available 24/7 and you can contact them here with any questions or concerns.

 After your Date If you are just not feeling a love connection, it’s okay to say so.

• Feelings need to be mutual. If you are simply not interested in seeing someone again, be honest and tell them right away. If you feel that they won’t take it seriously, or ignore you, leave the date without plans for follow up, and don’t be afraid to block their number or profile.
• If you’re not feeling it, don’t be afraid to avoid contact. After you tell your date that you’re not interested, don’t hesitate to stop taking their calls or messages. Continually responding “no” may only make the other person think you’re interested. Alerting someone in your circle of the situation is good plan to protect yourself.

IMPORTANT: If a member has threatened you or committed an act of violence or theft, please contact your local law enforcement agency and also report the member to GFD to help protect the community.  Dating Honestly And With Respect Life is too short to settle. That’s why we want our members to find those relationships that align most with their personal goals and dreams. Honesty and open communication have always been our core principles. Dating Safely and Comfortably Remember, your date is most likely as nervous as you are to meet in person for the first time. Be sure you’ve discussed any health or safety concerns before meeting up with your date. The pandemic may be easing restrictions in some areas, but there are many people who’d prefer to stick to the outdoors or continue with masked dates for now. Also, be sure to include a more social get together option that doesn’t involve alcohol, like a trip to a local park, a museum or roller skating rink. That way, you and your date won’t feel pressured to drink if you don’t want to. If you’re drinking, keep an eye on your drink. If you have to leave it for any length of time, you can always order a fresh one. During the First Date Approach each date as an opportunity to get to know someone better rather than going in with any expectations that your meetup should progress further. Be kind, embrace a positive attitude, and aim to have fun. This will help put you and your date at ease. You are in full control of how things progress. If you don’t feel comfortable, it’s most important to put yourself first. Always feel free to politely leave the date. Neither of you owes each other anything, regardless of who pays for the meal. If necessary, enlist the help of a waiter or your bartender to help to get you out of an uncomfortable situation. If you feel it’s more serious, have them help you organize a way to get home and alert their management. Girlfriendate Commitment to Safety We employ different tools, processes, and policies to foster respectful communities and environments. The information provided below gives an overview of these technologies and methods. Depending on the needs of each platform and the audiences they serve, different tools may be adopted by different brands. However, the objective is universal: we are committed to creating a safe and positive experience for all our members on each and every one of our platforms. While rare, we believe that any incident of misconduct or criminal behavior is one too many and that is why we are committed to work tirelessly to ensure that you and our community remains safe. Girlfriendate Safety & Security Features & Tools

• Our security team uses industry-leading security monitoring tools featuring advanced AI threat detection and monitoring augmented with a dedicated monitoring team within a Security Operations Center.  This team serves as first responders on the cyber front offering 24/7 and 365 protection in any time zone. The team works around the clock safeguarding against data and privacy theft.
• We have the most sophisticated bot detection software on the market.
• We safeguard all members’ personal information — including credit card data — with multiple layers of security, including encryption in transit and at rest. Users’ passwords are hashed and encrypted, and staff have no access to them.
• Constant profile vetting to ensure the community is safe from deceitful members.
• We have a giant technology infrastructure featuring security as the core.
• All member data is encrypted and stored in an infrastructure exclusively controlled by Girlfriendate.com.
• We conduct both internal and external quarterly compliance audits:
  • PCI Compliant – External
  • Security Team – Internal
• All of our websites are Transport Layer Security (TLS) secure. This is a cryptographic protocol designed to provide communications security over a computer network. The TLS protocol aims primarily to provide privacy and data integrity.
• We provide regular and ongoing Privacy and Security Training for all staff

We use a network of trusted safety tools Girlfriendate uses a network of industry-leading automated and manual moderation and review tools, technology, process, and policies. We spend millions of dollars annually to prevent, detect, and remove people who engage in inappropriate behavior on our platforms. Examples of tools we use include:

• Automatic scans of profiles upon creation for red-flag language and images;
• Ongoing scans for fraudulent accounts or messaging activity; and
• Manual reviews of suspicious profiles, activity, and user-generated reports.

We also depend on our members to report any profiles engaged in concerning behavior so that we can investigate and take appropriate action. Background Checks At Girlfriendate, members have the ability to have a background search. After verification there is a badge that is posted on the member’s profile to show that they have been through the background check process. Video and AI Technology Girlfriendate is integrating various features such as video chat, automated photo review, and photo verification, all of which aid our efforts to help our members ensure that every match is who they say they are. We are also incorporating anti-harassment prompts on our platforms, which use machine learning to automatically screen for potentially offensive messages and prompt the recipient to report the behavior. Safety Resources Girlfriendate has in-app safety resources that equip daters with a comprehensive suite of information to keep members informed about the latest safety features while providing the most up-to-date information and tools in the online safety space. These resources are continually being updated and are evolving in collaboration with the safety experts on our Girlfriendate Advisory Council. Customer Care Teams Girlfriendate has its own robust customer care team dedicated to supporting our members and addressing any complaints or reports of bad behavior. Serious violations of our Terms of Use are reported to a centralized safety repository and cross-referenced across all our platforms to see if the member has other accounts on our other platforms. If any accounts are found, those accounts are blocked as well. Girlfriendate Safety Policies We make every effort to identify, detect, and take appropriate actions to remove bad actors At Girlfriendate, we prohibit the following groups of people from using our product:

• Anyone younger than 18 years of age;
• Anyone who has been convicted or pleaded no contest to a felony and/or a violent or sexual crime;
• Registered sex offenders; and
• Anyone suspected of sex trafficking.

Girlfriendate Terms of Use  authorizes us to remove members who fall into any of the categories above, as well as to conduct searches of sex offender registries and other searches of publicly available records. If a member has been reported for domestic abuse, assault, or criminal activity (past or present) while they are active on our platforms, all accounts found that are associated with that member will be banned from our platforms. We have a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech We have a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech on our platforms. In addition to our human moderators and investment in technology to detect banned language, we encourage and rely on our network of members to report any inappropriate language so that our Customer Care teams can investigate and take appropriate action. We ban and block underage users With the combination of technology and human resources, Girlfriendate works diligently to keep underage users off of our platforms. In addition to using sophisticated artificial intelligence, we collect birthdates, phone numbers, pictures, bios and other inputs used for age verification, as well as check profiles for red flags to keep underage users off our platforms. Human moderators also review accounts that have been flagged either by automated systems or by member reports, and act on those reports accordingly. We do not allow prostitution, sex trafficking, or solicitation Promoting or advocating for commercial sex services, human trafficking, or other non-consensual sexual acts is strictly prohibited and will result in your account being banned from all Girlfriendate platforms. Solicitation of any kind is also prohibited. If the purpose of a profile is to advertise an event, business, non-profit, political campaign, contest, or to conduct research, we may delete and ban that account. We ban and block fraudulent behavior and scams  Girlfriendate has a dedicated team and sophisticated technology that detects and removes spam and fraud using a variety of tools including conducting automated and/or manual reviews of each member profile to block IP addresses from high-alert countries, identifying stolen credit card numbers, and detecting suspicious language in profiles. Girlfriendate instructs members to never send money to someone they meet on our platforms, and to report any individual who asks that they do. These steps are designed to stop scams in their tracks and help protect the next potential victim. For more information on romance scams and how to protect yourself, learn more from the  Federal Trade Commission’s Consumer Information website. If you believe you have been a victim of fraud on our platforms, you should report the scam on our platforms and contact local law enforcement. Off-Service Conduct Policy Girlfriendate is committed to facilitating vibrant and dynamic communities, which can only happen if our members feel secure and protected. We believe that the occurrence of severe offenses committed by Girlfriendate users that may take place entirely off our platforms (“off-service”) can create a substantial safety risk to the Girlfriendate community. As a result, we will suspend and ban applicable accounts, up to an indefinite suspension on the first offense for some behaviors, even if the conduct took place offline or on other internet services, including:

• Deadly violence and violent extremism;
• Terrorist activities or recruiting;
• Explicit and/or credible threats of mass violence (i.e., threats against a group of people, event, or location where people would gather);
• Leadership or membership in a known hate group;
• Carrying out or deliberately acting as an accomplice to non-consensual sexual activities and/or sexual assault;
• Sexual exploitation of children, such as child grooming and solicitation/distribution of Child Sex and Abuse Materials (CSAM);
• Actions that would directly and explicitly compromise the physical safety of the Girlfriendate community; and
• Explicit and/or credible threats against Girlfriendate, including our staff.

We work to keep the Girlfriendate community safe. We believe individuals who have engaged in the severe forms of abuse listed above are more likely to engage in behaviors on Girlfriendate in violation of our Community Guidelines or create overt safety risks for our communities. As a consequence, we will apply these standards even if the target of these behaviors is not a Girlfriendate member on one of our platforms, or the person engaging in abuse was not a Girlfriendate member at the time the severe offense was committed. Persons who engage in these forms of severe abuse off-service are also prohibited from subsequently registering for other Girlfriendate accounts on our platforms and any attempt to do so will lead to account termination. We also recognize that toxicity and abuse can spread to Girlfriendate from outside our services in a way that is detrimental to our community. To mitigate this harm, we will take reported off-service context into account when evaluating violations of any of our policies that occur on Girlfriendate. If we are able to verify reports of off-service statements or behaviors that relate to an incident on Girlfriendate, we will use this evidence to support and inform our suspension and ban decisions. Because we have less context around behaviors that occur outside of Girlfriendate, we generally require that evidence of these activities is verifiable before we will take action. In most cases, this includes direct links to public posts or content directly uploaded by the  member. Screenshots and other content from third-parties that may be edited, doctored, or falsified are generally not considered to be sufficient unless they are supported by other verifiable evidence or confirmed by our third-party investigator as authentic. Additionally, we will consider law enforcement action(s) as an input when assessing the credibility of accusations and evidence. Girlfriendate will leverage third-party legal experts to assist in investigating severe offenses that occur outside of the Girlfriendate services when needed. Members can contact the Girlfriendate Off-Service Investigations Team to directly report cases of any off-service abuses listed above. These reports go directly to our global team responsible for investigating allegations of severe off-service offenses and are handled with complete confidentiality.