Tinder vows to boot incest offender Trent Thorburn off dating app
Tinder are currently investigating claims a Queensland man convicted of incest has created a profile on their dating app.
Trent Thorburn, who was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment in 2017 after a sexual encounter with his foster sister Tiahleigh Palmer, is believed to have uploaded a series of selfies to Tinder under the name Tj.
Twelve-year-old Tiahleigh was later murdered by Thorburn’s father, Rick, in October 2015. He is currently serving a life sentence as a result of her death.
In a Facebook post written on Wednesday, the slain girl’s mother Cindy Palmer said Trent was using Tinder.
She included a picture of a man from the account who says he is 22.
Tinder confirmed to Yahoo News Australia in a statement that the matter was being looked into.
“The safety of our users is a top priority at Tinder and our team is investigating this,” a spokesperson said.
There is no confirmation from Tinder that the profile was created by Trent Thorburn.
They highlighted the stringent process they go through to ensure the app is a safe environment for its users.
“If a member has been reported for committing a crime, they will be removed from our platform,” the spokesperson added.
“We utilise a network of industry-leading automated and manual moderation and review tools, systems and processes, and spend millions of dollars annually, to prevent, monitor and remove bad actors from our app.”
The spokesperson said the tools include automatic scans of profiles for red-flag language and images, manual reviews of suspicious profiles and activity and user generated reports, as well as blocking email addresses, phone numbers and other identifiers.
Tiahleigh’s body was found on the banks of the Gold Coast's Pimpama River in November, 2015 and police swooped on her foster family the following September.
Her mother told Nine News the alleged profile “was a slap in the face”.
“These evil pieces of work are there living their lives and maintain life as if nothing has happened,” she said.
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