Evangelizing to his 512,000 TikTok followers occasionally requires that dating coach Chad Franklin post the private communications of his clients, who pay upwards of $5,000 for his services.
In September, Franklin shared a DM conversation in which a woman implied she couldn’t afford an Uber with the text overlay “Don’t date POOR women!!!” That same month, he uploaded a video of a client’s successful text exchange on Hinge where they talked about the need to “flirt over some margaritas.” In the clip, Franklin can barely contain himself, noting that it was the type of tête-à-tête that gets his “dick hard”: “This is what men are looking for. We lead, you follow.”
Franklin posts under the alias @DefundSimping, and has made it his mission to help straight, career-driven guys in their “post-breakup, post-divorce” era undo their “simp” behavior, which he defines as putting women on a pedestal or giving them too much attention.
I reached out to the 30-year-old content creator because I wanted to talk about Hinge’s decision to start testing screenshot protection in India. The announcement set off a firestorm of reaction across social media last week, rekindling a debate around digital etiquette, privacy, and shame.
“Everyone who’s downloaded the app has seen the debauchery and the drama,” Franklin says, explaining that being online in 2026 simply means there is a chance you will become the day’s main character whether you intended to or not. “People are aware that they could be the next haha moment, but that doesn’t mean they deserve it.”
TikTokers, X accounts like @hingestrange, and other online creators have built entire brands out of screenshotting and sharing bizarre dating profile prompts, cringe pickup lines, or red flags found while swiping. But critics of the trend argue it’s a form of public humiliation that should end.
In response to news of Hinge revoking profile screenshotting ability in India, some responded with relief.
“People on here kinda turned being on a dating app into both an extension of the panopticon and a window into their own personal penchant for cruelty,” writer Tres Dean noted on X. “I actually think this might be the first ethical development in online dating in years if not ever.”
X user @randy_mossad added, “Better for a million cheaters to go unpunished than for one regular person looking for love to get humiliated by leaked chats.”
In a TikTok video, Florida-based creator Kiara said she understands the change despite having posted screenshots to shame men who were hypersexual or “super disrespectful” in their profiles. “But I’ve noticed now that we’re in an ‘I hate men’ apocalypse … women are posting men’s profiles simply because they’re not just not attracted to them,” she continued, describing the latter as being “wrong” and “mean.”
At a moment when the apps feel broken for so many people, there seems to be a desire for more private, less performative forms of dating and communication.
While apps like Raya and Grindr already include screenshot protection, the India pilot is the first iteration of it for Hinge, which will block screenshots on surfaces containing personally identifiable profile information, including Discover, Likes You, and Standouts.
The company confirms to WIRED that testing in India is part of an initiative to help singles build trust among other users and with the platform. The insights will determine whether and how Hinge introduces the feature in additional markets, but there are no current plans to greenlight screenshot protection in US or other regions.
A 2025 study in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication suggested that screenshots create “privacy turbulence” by allowing a recipient to permanently store and redistribute private conversations without the original sender’s knowledge or consent, noting that the screenshot feature eliminates a shared boundary of control and strips away context.
But for some women in particular, screenshotting profiles has become a necessary precaution when vetting potential suitors. “Privacy’s in tension with safety. Screenshots can document inappropriate behavior or allow someone to check in with a friend before meeting a stranger,” says Lizzie Li, a communications researcher, who adds that communities like Are We Dating the Same Guy? grew partly out of women sharing screenshots to address safety concerns.
Asked whether the company has an obligation to prevent users from having their profiles turned into public content—30 million people currently use the app—a Hinge spokesperson tells WIRED that screenshot protection, along with Comment Filter and Did This Bother You?, is “another way we’re exploring how to help daters control how and where personal details are shared.” Singles will still be able to screenshot their messages with other matches if they want to report an account for potential safety concerns, affording women an extra layer of defense on dating apps where they disproportionately experience harassment and privacy violations. According to Hinge’s community guidelines, harassment, bullying, and intimidation are prohibited.
“When you are a bystander, it is fairly obvious that a privacy violation is occurring and most people would not want it to happen to them. At the same time, discomfort has not stopped the behavior,” says Alexis Ingber, an assistant professor at Syracuse University whose research focuses on privacy and emerging tech. “Dating-profile dunking reflects a broader sense of entitlement to others’ data.”
But Franklin, who has a knack for speaking in clip-ready one-liners, doesn’t believe dating apps have a duty to protect users from becoming a punch line on social media. “If you enter the dragon’s den, you may get bit by the dragon,” he tells me.
Still, with 20 clients on his roster, he says he does his best to block “every name, lip, face, and eye, trying to keep people private” when posting screenshots, because he understands that people are “scared of getting hit-pieced.” Before ending our Zoom call to meet with another client, he tells me there is actually one way to completely sidestep the problem. “If you don’t want to be potentially doxed, just don’t get on a dating app. Go talk to a girl at a dog park. Go to a farmer’s market. Do it the old-fashioned way.”
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