Dating Apps and Sexual Charges
My question involves criminal law for the state of: California
Scenario:
A male in their mid-twenties got carried away on a dating app, such as bumble, and was sexting several girls (18-26 yrs old - all of legal age) about fun sex scenarios they could meet up and do (although nothing ever happens in person). This person also sent a couple dick pictures to the girls he was talking with. and then this person got carried away and messaged a sexual scenario to one girl upon immediately matching with her, and the girl reported him (among one or two other reports for the same reason) which resulted in Bumble permanently banning/blocking the man.
Questions:
1. Can or will bumble report this person to the police? or does the person themselves have to make a claim?
2. Will this be put on the persons criminal record and labeled as a sex offender for life?
3. Will the dating app, such as bumble, hold onto the account information and sexually reported messages forever?
4. If it is not technically illegal in California, is it possible for the dating app such as bumble, to charge the person once it does become illegal in the state in the future?
5. Is it possible to have the dating app, such as bumble, delete the account information (including messages and photos and personal data) even tho the account is banned and locked by them?
Re: Dating Apps and Sexual Charges
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1. Can or will bumble report this person to the police? or does the person themselves have to make a claim?
Can? Yes.
Will? No way to predict.
All stupid can do is sweat it out for a few months and hope nothing comes of it.
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2. Will this be put on the persons criminal record and labeled as a sex offender for life?
No. That only happens with a criminal conviction.
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3. Will the dating app, such as bumble, hold onto the account information and sexually reported messages forever?
Depends on the capacity of the storage media. With enough capacity data can be kept forever and turn up at the most inconvenient times.
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4. If it is not technically illegal in California, is it possible for the dating app such as bumble, to charge the person once it does become illegal in the state in the future?
Sure, it's possible. It's possible for pigs to fly... if you put them on a plane.
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5. Is it possible to have the dating app, such as bumble, delete the account information (including messages and photos and personal data) even tho the account is banned and locked by them?
That's entirely up to the dating app.
Re: Dating Apps and Sexual Charges
Anybody can report a crime. It doesn't need to be the "victim." However, I'm not seeing how an adult sending a nude selfie through an online app violates California or federal laws.
You should expect anything you send on the internet to stay out there FOREVER. Bumble is under no obligation to delete anything.
Re: Dating Apps and Sexual Charges
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Quoting
seaotters14
1. Can or will bumble report this person to the police? or does the person themselves have to make a claim?
It could report it to the police. Anyone with information on what they think may be a crime may report that crime. It doesn't just have to be the victim of the crime.
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Quoting
seaotters14
2. Will this be put on the persons criminal record and labeled as a sex offender for life?
All you've told us is that the guy "messaged a sexual scenario" to a woman. The details of what was said matters a great deal. In general sexual conversation between adults is not a crime even if one of the participants ends up offended or disgusted by the conversation. Of course, any threats of violence made may lead to criminal charges. It may be that what the guy did violated the company's terms of service (TOS) but was not actually a crime.
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Quoting
seaotters14
3. Will the dating app, such as bumble, hold onto the account information and sexually reported messages forever?
Very likely not forever. Exactly how long it will retain them is up to the company. Look at the company's privacy policy (if it has one) and that may address how long it keeps such information.
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Quoting
seaotters14
4. If it is not technically illegal in California, is it possible for the dating app such as bumble, to charge the person once it does become illegal in the state in the future?
The company does not file charges. The prosecutor for the state that has jurisdiction over the offense (which might be some other state, by the way, as it is possible that the state where the woman was located may have jurisdiction to pursue charges since it occurred over the internet) would do that. In California the prosecutor is the District Attorney. However, if it was not a crime when the act occurred it is impossible for the guy to be charged for that act later should the state make it illegal in the future. The U.S. Constitution specifically bars ex post facto laws — criminal laws that punish people for acts done prior to the law being enacted.
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Quoting
seaotters14
5. Is it possible to have the dating app, such as bumble, delete the account information (including messages and photos and personal data) even tho the account is banned and locked by them?
The guy can always ask. But the company is under no obligation to honor that request unless the contract with the company provides the users with that right. Again, look at the TOS and privacy policy.
Re: Dating Apps and Sexual Charges
Yeah, I know the person and that he is very remorseful, regrets it and wont do anything like that again.
and right, but the Bumble dating app does seem to work with the state of Texas to crack down on people like this for cyber flashing or sexting or whatever... but not in California, i guess? Hopefully nothing comes of it, he learns from his mistake and can move on.
@taxingmatters- He said the scenarios were not inherently violent but that he offered massage scenarios, foreplay scenarios or slightly bondage related foreplay type scenarios. What do you think, now that you know this?
In your opinion, do you think the person is likely to be reported to the police, by a dating site like bumble, for a situation like this?
is there anything he can do to stop it from escalating or getting worse?
Re: Dating Apps and Sexual Charges
In my opinion, the app has better things to do than to involve themselves in situations between two participants once a complaint has been addressed. My opinion and a dollar forty nine will get you a coffee at McDonalds.
The absolutely best thing he can do to keep it from escalating is nothing. Anything he does has the potential to backfire on him.
Re: Dating Apps and Sexual Charges
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Quoting
seaotters14
and right, but the Bumble dating app does seem to work with the state of Texas to crack down on people like this for cyber flashing or sexting or whatever... but not in California, i guess? Hopefully nothing comes of it, he learns from his mistake and can move on.
Even in Texas simply having a sexual conversation between adults is not a crime. Sending an unsolicited nude pic might violate the laws of at least some states as distribution of obscene matter, however.
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Quoting scream loud, post: 307082, member: 128933
@taxingmatters- He said the scenarios were not inherently violent but that he offered massage scenarios, foreplay scenarios or slightly bondage related foreplay type scenarios. What do you think, now that you know this?
Again, sex talk between adults itself is not generally a crime. If he actually threatened that he would do something violent to the woman, that of course is a crime. Simply talking about bondage fantasies is not a crime. Threatening to actually rape her would be.
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Quoting scream loud, post: 307082, member: 128933
In your opinion, do you think the person is likely to be reported to the police, by a dating site like bumble, for a situation like this?
No idea since I haven't seen the actual messages sent nor do I know anything about the company and its policies.
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Quoting scream loud, post: 307082, member: 128933
is there anything he can do to stop it from escalating or getting worse?
He can't change what has been done. What he can do going forward is have nothing to do with this woman and not engage in conversations like those that apparently some women found objectionable.
Re: Dating Apps and Sexual Charges
okay, that is good to know, thank you for your help!
So do you think the chances of this blowing over and the dating app eventually deleting the account information pretty high? He totally stopped this silly behavior and cut contact with any of the people, and is hoping to move on.
Re: Dating Apps and Sexual Charges
Why would they delete the information? They would certainly like to keep track of users that have caused grave problems for their service.
Re: Dating Apps and Sexual Charges
Yeah, that is true. Just hope it is forgotten and he can move on and not do anything stupid like that again.