A lawsuit in California seeks to implicate MeetMe, one of the brands owned by The Meet Group, in a murder case.
Plaintiff Blanca Vargas claims the death of her son, Marcos Vargas, was partly caused by the app failing to “screen [users] and perform sufficient background checks”.
Its lack of diligence, according to the claim, allowed 19-year-old suspect Nicholas Charley Quintana to “carry out hate crimes along with other illegal activities”, before attacking the victim.
According to 23ABC, Vargas is seeking damages for “negligence, personal injury to descendant, wrongful death, survivor action, false advertising and fraud”. In addition, the plaintiff is claiming for “past and future medical expenses and funeral costs”.
Legal documents show part of The Meet Group’s response. The livestreaming and social entertainment company says that it “carefully reviews and enforces acceptable user conduct policies”.
It is a company which “has 350 people devoted to safety and moderation; [ensures] all of its publicly posted content have the most prominent Report Abuse button of any major livestreaming app; (…) screens new registrants against databases of known sex offenders in the U.S. and regularly re-screens active users against these same lists, blocking registrations and activity from known sex offenders”.
The Meet Group also “(…) uses a combination of technology and human interaction to ensure compliance and spot anomalies; and (…) takes numerous steps to educate its users about the potential risks of online activity, especially the potential dangers of meeting a stranger in person.”
In July, The Meet Group, Match Group, Spark Networks and the Online Dating Association (ODA) participated in a panel discussion concerning the future of online dating safety.
Read more here.