Dating websites can prevent tragedies by being honest about their loopholes

A man and a woman have a date in a public matchmaking event in Anyang, Henan province on June 22, 2014. [Photo/IC]

The exposure of various supervisory loopholes on dating websites came shortly after a Beijing-based technology entrepreneur committed suicide, which he said had a lot to do with his "vicious" former wife. In a suicide note the 37-year-old accused his former wife, whom he had met on Jiayuan, of lying about her previous marriage and threatening to disclose his possible tax evasion.

His tax issue aside, it is possible that his ex-wife concealed certain facts, including her marital history. The dating website, too, failed to verify her registration as a VIP member－a key indicator of decent educational background or financial capability. The membership, which costs one just 16 yuan ($2.49) to obtain, does not guarantee the authenticity of the applicants' information.

As an intermediary matchmaking platform, dating websites are obliged to scrutinize the portfolios submitted by applicants. Then, they should be held accountable for failing to double check the personal information the members submit, and fulfill their intermediary responsibilities, for example, of warning users of unconfirmed information.

Dating websites do not have access to either the marriage registration database, which is run by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, or the Ministry of Public Security's identity database, because of security concerns. So they cannot possibly verify even the most basic personal information, including real name, age and marital history of their registered members. But they should refrain from over-exaggerating their capability to screen out questionable applicants and be honest about their inability to scrutinize the personal information submitted by members.

More importantly, one is only able to enjoy the third-party matchmaking service when it is paid for, which explains why in some cases the real-name registration policy is dropped in favor of generous payers, who request to be anonymous during online dating. In other words, dating websites lack both the incentives and the means to scrutinize their members, but being honest with users is the least they could do.