63photoverificationtoreducecatfishing.(SharonStonewas
briefly kicked off Bumble in December when a user flagged her
unverified account as a fake.) After a string of mass shootings
in 2018, Bumble banned photos of guns. Every time the app
rolled out a feature, it got great press—and, at least once, vio-
lent threats from readers of neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer.
As with the message-first feature, it’s hard to tell if these
policies or new platforms helped women. For example,
Bumble announced Bizz in 2017 with a Wired UK cover and a
dinner party in New York. Kate Hudson and Karlie Kloss were
there. Pop singer Fergie performed. Wolfe Herd gave a speech
about power lunches and old boys’ clubs and how Bizz would
give women agency over their jobs in the way Bumble had
put them in charge of their relationships. On Instagram the
company said, “We’re challenging sexism in the workplace.”
But when I tried it, I couldn’t figure out how it was chal-
lenging anything. For one thing, Bizz looked like a dating
app; my face was more prominent than my professional
credentials. The people swiping right on my profile were
overwhelmingly men whose careers had nothing to do with
mine. One guy offered free Pilates classes. Another said he
was a “celebrity manager” and that I should swipe left if I
was “boring and easily intimidated.” A third wanted to “con-
nect with people who have innovative and creative ideas”
and also sell me on his restaurant-recommendation app. A
fourth said he ran his parents’ family-owned business but
wouldn’t say what it was.
Treating professional and dating profiles similarly is odd,
given the company’s mission. For decades, academic research
has suggested that women and minorities are disadvantaged
when applying for jobs. Studies show that résumés for appli-
cants with black- or Asian-sounding names get 30% to 50%
fewer callbacks. A 2012 study found that science faculty at
research universities rated applicants as less competent
and offered a lower salary if the name on a résumé sounded
female. Bizz seemed almost willfully ignorant of what forms
workplace discrimination takes.
“Bizz is not the most amazing experience. It’s not,”
Wolfe Herd admitted. She knew it was hard to network and
that Bizz pages resembled dating profiles. The platform,
she said, “is more of a little incubator test site right now
toseeif theconceptworks.”Bizz,whichhasbeenavail-
ableformorethantwoyears,doesn’tappeartohavebeen
meaningfully updated since its release. “Candidly,” Wolfe
Herd said, “Andrey didn’t want to put the product invest-
mentintoit.”(Andreev didn’t comment.)Andreev’sattentiontoequalitywithinhisowncompany
wasn’t stellar, either. According to 2018 public filings, wom-
en’smedianhourlywageatBadoois 44%lessthanmen’s—
muchhigherthanBritain’snationalaverage—and72%ofthe
lowest-paid jobs are filled by women. Upper and senior man-
agement is only about 14% female. In July, Forbes reported
that a former female Badoo CMO said she was asked to “act
pretty” for investors; that workers threw drug-fueled par-
ties in the company’s offices; and that female employees’
looks were discussed openly. Andreev denied the claims and
hired an outside company to investigate allegations of sexual
harassment. Bumble confirmed the report was completed but
declined to make a statement about its findings.
According to the company, Wolfe Herd didn’t know about
Badoo’sreputationandwashorrifiedtothinktheallegations
mightbetrue.Butin2017,BloombergBusinessweekreported
onwhatit calledBadoo’s“wildsoirees”withhalf-naked mod-
els asked to pole dance or used as human sushi platters. And
based on Instagram posts, she and several Bumble execu-
tives attended Andreev’s Halloween party in 2015. Mid-level
Bumble employees in Austin were aware of Badoo’s reputa-
tion. They knew, for example, that on International Women’s
Day, Badoo gave men the day off. The joke at the company was
that if women wanted to be equal, they had to do extra work.
(Andreev and Bumble didn’t comment.)
In Austin, Bumble apparently had its own culture issues.
On the second floor near Wolfe Herd’s office, a pink neon
sign reminded people to “Bee Kind.” But current and former
Bumble employees said the company had a Mean Girls vibe,
with the OGs serving as the popular clique. Some employ-
ees said they felt excluded because they didn’t have the right
look or connections. A former intern said he was told to
lay gravel and pot plants in the back courtyard at his boss’s
house; he didn’t feel comfortable reporting the issue because
his boss was Wolfe Herd’s close friend. One person, a woman
of color, said that when she asked why Bumble used so many
blond models in ads, Bumble’s chief creative marketing offi-
cer—a blond woman—said that was the look she preferred.
Several people mentioned Wolfe Herd’s habit, when Bumble
was smaller, of giving extravagant Christmas or birthday
presents such as Chanel shoes or artwork to some employ-
eesandnottoothers.(TheBumblespokesmandidn’tcom-
mentontheallegationsbytheintern.Hesaidthestoryabout
gift-giving was false and the one about blond models—which
the marketing officer denied—was inaccurate.)
In 2017, Bumble threwa partyandhiredtheband0% 50% 100%Livingin a city
Under 30
Liberal
College-educated*WhiteShareamongalldating
platformusers
�DAVID M. BENNET/NADEZDA FOUNDATION/GETTY IMAGES. *BACHELOR’S DEGREE OR HIGHER. DATA: MORNING CONSULT