Striking a Match: Examining and reimagining contemporary conditions of digital intimacy through a case study of Tinder

Digital media and technologies have become so intertwined with our lives that our most intimate relationships are now often shaped by platforms, apps, algorithms, and artificial intelligence (AI). In this talk, Dr Stefanie Duguay (Concordia University, Canada) will focus on Tinder to understand how dating apps have ushered in particular conditions for digital intimacy in recent years. Through close analysis of Tinder’s technological features, marketing, governance, business model, surrounding public discourse, and users’ experiences, Dr Duguay identifies four key shifts that have contributed to these current conditions: Tinder’s reframing from a multi-purpose hook-up app to a tool for seeking love amid melancholic gender dynamics; redefining authenticity from social verification to data-driven and visual evidence; implementing surveillance mechanisms in the name of safety; and incentivizing paying for visibility. As many daters grow weary of these conditions, Tinder’s latest promises to alleviate their burden through AI invoke an inflection point where we must ask whether different conditions for digital intimacy are possible.

This event is organised by the Department of Digital Humanities as part of its seminar series. The talk will be followed by a wine reception.

About the Speaker:

Stefanie Duguay is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Canada. She is Director of the Digital Intimacy, Gender and Sexuality (DIGS) Lab where her research focuses on the intersection of digital technologies and media with representations and practices pertaining to intimate life, relationships, gender, and sexuality. This has involved studies of dating apps, platform governance, and the role of platforms and mobile media in queer social landscapes. She is author of Tinder: Digital Intimacy in the Dating App Era (Polity, 2026) and Personal but Not Private: Queer Women, Sexuality, and Identity Modulation on Digital Platforms (OUP, 2022).