Chinese Tinder Monitors In-App Messaging With Keyword Censorship

Chinese dating app Tantan is using keyboard censorship to observe the exchange of inappropriate messages between its users.

Earlier this week, we reported that the app had been outed by a researcher for a number of security flaws.

The founder and CEO of crowdsourced testing service Pay4Bugs, Larry Salibra, reported that Tantan was failing to use encryption software, and was endangering the safety of its users and their personal information.

During the investigation, Salibra also discovered Tantan’s list of prohibited phrases, which included terms like “meet for sex?”, “nude photo” and “sleep with you”.

Once a user enters one of these phrases in a chat, they receive a warning message saying: “This message might be seen as offensive, we would advise thinking twice before sending it!”

Depending on the app’s settings, the “offensive language” warning will appear in Chinese or English.

However, users are still free to send and receive messages containing these terms, but as Salibra points out, they might wish to take extra care due to Tantan’s lack of encryption.

In an email to Salibra, Tantan’s CEO Yu Wang said: “We have a list of sensitive words in the app which we use to remind users to behave in a civilized way.

“Unfortunately some guys do not know how to talk to girls and need some friendly reminders.”

Wang also responded to Salibra’s numerous points about the app’s security, saying it is working to release HTTPS/SSL as soon as possible.

Read the full email exchange here.