Zepeel Uses AI to Enforce No Filters, No Photoshop Rule

Video dating app Zepeel has announced a ban on filters and photoshopped images on user profiles. The platform now uses facial recognition technology to ensure that uploaded photos and videos accurately reflect a user’s real-life appearance – part of a broader push to reintroduce authenticity to online matchmaking.

Zepeel, which first launched over a decade ago to relative obscurity with a focus on real-time video chats, has reemerged with a new campaign aimed at embracing imperfections. Digital billboards in New York and Toronto now carry the stark slogan: “If you’re ugly, be ugly“.

The move comes amid heightened anxiety over AI-generated profiles and catfishing. According to a recent McAfee survey, over 26% of users have interacted with chatbots pretending to be real people, and scammers regularly create entire fake people using just generative AI. o enforce the new policy, Zepeel’s AI will automatically detect filtered or heavily edited images, flagging them for removal and prompting users to upload more accurate media. The app’s facial verification software even tracks minor changes in facial features, making even small touch-ups hard to hide across multiple images.

“Forget six-pack abs, chiseled jawlines, and perfectly stenciled brows – Zepeel wants the real you,” said Anthony Macri, the company’s marketing lead. “We want real people to feel celebrated, not swiped past.”