Is Facebook Dating Safe for Men?

It is about as safe as other dating apps, and no safer than your own habits make it. Facebook requires Dating users to be at least 18 with an account in good standing, and says it may ask you to verify your account to prevent impersonation or underage use. It also says Dating does not run criminal background checks or other screenings, so the checking is yours to do.

Facebook sets an age floor and an account standard. It may ask members to verify their Dating profile, which is aimed at impersonation and underage use.

You can block anyone who makes you uncomfortable, and you can report suspicious profiles or conversations. Facebook also says your Dating profile and conversations are not shared with anyone outside Dating.

Those are real protections, and they cover the app's side. They do not tell you who the person you are talking to really is.

Facebook's safety policy says Dating does not run criminal background checks or other screenings, such as sex offender register searches.

So a person on Dating has passed no check on her history or on yours. Verification confirms that a profile is a real person, not that the person is good. Treat everyone as a stranger until you have spent some time with her.

Facebook advises keeping identifying details out of your profile and chats. That means no last name, email, home address, phone number, work address or financial information.

A first name and a general area are enough for a first date. You can share more as trust builds, and at your own pace. A woman who respects you will not push for it, and a man who gives it all up in the first chat has handed a stranger everything.

Facebook lists some signs to watch for. One is someone who wants to leave Dating quickly for personal email or a messaging app. Another is someone who claims to be in love very quickly.

Facebook also says never to respond to requests to send money. That rule has no exceptions. A woman you have never met who asks for money is not a match, whatever her story is.

Men are targets of these approaches as much as anyone. They tend to come with a lot of flattery and a sad reason why she cannot meet. If a chat has plenty of warmth and no plan to meet, ask yourself why.

For a first meeting, Facebook suggests a few steps: tell someone your plans, meet in a public place, arrange your own transport, and keep your phone charged.

Follow all four. A coffee or a drink at a busy place is a good first date anyway, and it is easy to leave if it is not going well. Share the place and time with a friend, and drive or travel yourself so you are never relying on her for a lift.

Safety goes both ways. A woman on a dating app is checking you as carefully as you are checking her.

Show her the signs she is looking for. Use real, recent photos of your face. Be consistent between your page and what you say. Suggest a public place without being asked, and do not push to move to a private chat or a private location. A man who makes her feel at ease gets a yes far more often than one who rushes.

Safe and useful are different questions. Facebook Dating sits inside an account you may already have, and how many women near you use it varies. Another article on this site covers whether it works for men.

If you try it, put in the effort that matters: clear photos, a page that sounds like you, and first messages that refer to something on her page. Then move to a real plan, not a long chat. a dating coach's advice on any app is to get from the chat to a plan within a handful of short texts.

Facebook Dating sets age and verification rules, lets you block and report, and says it keeps your profile and chats inside Dating. It does not run background checks. Keep identifying details private, treat a request for money as the end of the chat, and meet in public with a plan.