Sex offender screening for dating apps
Scams and safety incidents are now a defining risk for dating and social platforms — and in three states, disclosing whether you screen is the law. One API call checks a user against all 58 US sex offender registries and criminal records, so trust-and-safety is a control you can point to, not a gap someone else finds first.
The free-tier gap the press already found
This is not hypothetical. A 2019 ProPublica / Columbia Journalism Investigations report found a major operator screened for registered sex offenders on its paid app but not its free ones — and quoted a spokesperson conceding there are registered offenders on the free products.
The reporting analyzed 150-plus dating-app sexual-assault incidents and found roughly one in ten involved a person previously accused or convicted of a similar crime. US romance-scam losses reported to the FTC reached $823 million in 2024, and the FBI’s IC3 logged $672 million across nearly 18,000 confidence-fraud complaints. When an incident traces back to a platform, the questions are always the same: what did you check, and when? Screening users against the sex offender registries is a concrete, documentable answer.
Three states already require a disclosure
New Jersey, Texas and Illinois each have an Internet Dating Safety Act. They reach any service with members in the state, and enforcement is active — New Jersey settled with Match Group for $650,000 in 2026 over its screening disclosures.
| State | Statute | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | Internet Dating Safety Act (N.J.S.A. 56:8-168 et seq.) | A service that does not run criminal background screening must disclose that — clearly and conspicuously, in bold 12-point capital letters — to New Jersey members, plus a safer-dating notice. A service that does screen must state its policy and the statutory limitations. Enforced under the NJ Consumer Fraud Act. |
| Texas | Internet Dating Safety Act (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code Ch. 106) | A provider that does not run checks must state, in bold 12-point capital letters, that it "does not conduct criminal background checks." One that does must disclose what it excludes and the limits. Enforced by the Texas Attorney General, with civil penalties per Texas member. |
| Illinois | 815 ILCS 518 (Internet Dating Safety) | Illinois follows the same model: an internet dating service must clearly and conspicuously disclose to Illinois members, in bold capital letters, if it does not conduct criminal background screening. |
General information, not legal advice — confirm your obligations with counsel. To disclose accurately that you screen, you first need a screening capability that produces auditable results; a registry API is that mechanism.
How apps integrate it
One endpoint, one schema — screen inline at signup or sweep an existing base in bulk.
- At signup. One inline call screens a new user against all 58 US registries before they can message anyone.
- In bulk. Batch-screen an existing user base in one pass — same scored, source-cited schema, billed per row.
- Across every tier. Per-call pricing ($0.15, lower at volume) means you can screen free users too — closing the exact gap the ProPublica story exposed.
- Criminal records too. Add county, state and federal records on the same key when the risk profile warrants.
- Ongoing. Re-screen or monitor so a user added to a registry later does not stay invisible.
Full details on the dating & social apps solution and the Sex Offender Search API. Building for consumers instead? See the dating background check.
Why trust-and-safety teams add it
Defensible disclosure
An actual registry check lets you make the stronger, marketable statement — “we screen” — instead of the deterrent negative disclosure the statutes force on non-screeners.
Close the free-tier gap
Per-check pricing lets you screen every tier consistently, eliminating the “there are registered offenders on our free product” liability that drove the coverage.
Reputational risk control
Each publicized incident tied to a registered offender is a brand event and a failure-to-warn magnet. Registry screening is a proactive control that supports a duty-of-care narrative.
Trust as conversion
Verification and safety features are already marketed as differentiators. Registry screening extends the trust story platforms advertise — and users increasingly expect.
Dating app screening questions
Are dating apps legally required to screen or disclose?
New Jersey, Texas and Illinois each have an Internet Dating Safety Act that requires an online dating service to disclose — in bold, conspicuous type — whether it runs criminal background screening, and to show a safer-dating notice. The laws reach any service with members in that state. Enforcement is real: in 2026 the New Jersey Attorney General settled with Match Group for $650,000 over its background-screening disclosures. Running an actual registry check is what lets a platform make an accurate, defensible disclosure.
How does an app integrate it?
One API call. POST a name (and any date of birth, age or location you hold) to /v1/search and get back scored, de-duplicated records across all 58 US registries, each cited to the official source. Screen at signup inline, or batch-screen an existing user base — same schema either way.
Why not a full background check?
Full FCRA background checks are slow, consent-gated and expensive — hard to run on every free signup. A sex-offender-registry screen is a narrower, faster, lower-friction control that maps directly to the specific harm the statutes and the press coverage target, so it can run across every tier at signup or at match time.
Is this a consumer report?
No. Offendersearch is not a consumer reporting agency and results are not a consumer report. It is a registry-and-records search surface a platform integrates as one trust-and-safety signal; decisions and any FCRA-covered process remain the platform’s responsibility.
Offendersearch is not a consumer reporting agency and results are not a consumer report. Legal references are general information, not legal advice.
Add registry screening to your app this week
An instant key, 25 free calls, one endpoint across all 58 US registries — plus criminal records on the same key.