Existing law regulates dating service contracts and prescribes requirements for their contents. Existing law grants a buyer of dating services the right to cancel a dating services contract within 3 days, as specified, after the day on which the buyer signs an agreement or offer to purchase those services. Existing law defines “online dating services” for these purposes as any person or organization engaged in the business of offering dating, matrimonial, or social referral services online, if the services are offered primarily online.

This bill would prescribe requirements for an online dating service in connection with users who are banned from the service because the person may have used a false identity or may have posed a significant risk of attempting to obtain money from, or provide money to, another user through fraudulent means. The bill would require the service to send a specified notice to a California user known to have previously received and responded to an onsite message from a banned user. The bill would require that the notice be sent within 24 hours after a banned user has been identified and banned, or at a later time if the service has determined that a different time is more effective, but not later than 3 days after the ban. The bill would require the online dating service to establish a procedure by which a banned user may challenge the user’s ban, and require the service to take corrective action if a banned user provides persuasive evidence that the ban was not reasonable. The bill would except from its provisions law enforcement officials acting within the scope of their employment investigating internet crime. The bill would make organizational and conforming changes.