French journalist Judith Duportail spent two years investigating Tinder’s inner workings—its algorithm, patents, and the vast amount of personal data the app collects. Her reporting, chronicled in her book L'Amour Sous Algorithm (Love Under Algorithm) and published in outlets like The Guardian and Slate, led her to uncover Tinder’s secret “ELO score”—a hidden desirability rating system used to rank users and recommend matches. Outraged by the discovery, Judith partnered with a data scientist and a lawyer to demand access to her own data. Tinder ultimately handed over 800 pages, exposing an opaque algorithm that commodifies desire, reinforces gender bias, and reduces attraction to a numerical equation.
Judith Duportail
Jerry Allen Carnegie, a mid-thirties gay Black man living in Los Angeles, is above all a hopeless romantic. He’s on five dating apps—Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, Scruff, and Grindr—holding onto the dream of finding “the one.” For Jerry, dating apps offer both hope and heartbreak: a love-hate relationship where the promise of connection is often eclipsed by emotional exhaustion. The film follows him on date after date, navigating swipe culture with grit and optimism. Jerry perseveres—but will the apps lead him to lasting love, or deeper disillusionment?
Jerry Allen Carnegie
Heda Kurtz, a 20-something nonbinary gamer living in rural Florida, searches for connection in the virtual world. On Nevermet—a platform where users meet via avatars instead of photographs—Heda falls for Dyno, a fellow gamer they date entirely in VR. Wearing headsets, they spend hours in the metaverse going on virtual dates, slowly building an emotional bond. “I fell for this man so fast,” Heda shares. But behind the avatars, vulnerability lingers. Heda is more afraid to show their face than to share their feelings. “I had already decided at that point—I care about who he is.” But is it safe to meet someone you’ve only known online?
Heda kurtz
Dr. Helen Fisher is one of the most influential voices in the science of human connection—a renowned biological anthropologist and the world’s leading expert on the neuroscience of love. As Senior Research Fellow at the Kinsey Institute and Chief Science Advisor at Match Group, Dr. Fisher has shaped the global conversation around romance, attraction, and modern relationships for over two decades. Her pioneering fMRI research on people in various stages of romantic love has transformed how we understand the brain in love, while her work with Match.com has helped define the very algorithms used by millions in their search for connection.
Helen Fisher
Sangheeta Singh-Kurtz is a journalist at New York Magazine and The Cut, where her reporting often explores the intersection of technology, identity, and modern relationships. Her deep curiosity about how digital tools shape human behavior led her to co-host the seventh season of Vox Media’s acclaimed podcast Land of the Giants, which dissected the rise of the billion-dollar dating app industry. Through her interviews and analysis, she helps decode how apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge are not just platforms for connection—but also engines of profit, data extraction, and social engineering.
Sangheeta Singh-Kurtz
Lakshmi Rengarajan has been recognized by Vanity Fair, CNBC, and The New York Times as a thought leader in both dating and workplace dynamics. She hosts the podcast, The Later Dater Today, where she delves into how to bridge digital and IRL relationships offering actionable insights to my audience. Rengarajan also co-hosted the 7th season of Vox’s big tech podcast Land of the Giants, an in-depth look at the multi-billion dollar dating app industry. Her journey began at the forefront of using in-person events to offset the effects of online dating, which led her to work as Director of Event Design at Match.com.
Lakshmi Rengarajan
Dr. Danaë Metaxa is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the Computer and Information Science Department, with a secondary appointment at the Annenberg School for Communication. Their research examines bias and representation in algorithmic systems, particularly in high-stakes social arenas such as politics, employment, and media—focusing on the lived experiences of marginalized communities. Dr. Metaxa’s expertise helps uncover how dating app algorithms perpetuate subtle yet powerful forms of bias, shaping not only who we see but who we are deemed “desirable” to. As the co-founder of the Penn HCI Group, alongside Andrew Head, Dr. Metaxa brings a critical and human-centered perspective on the impact of algorithmic systems on our most intimate choices.
Danaë Metaxa
Amira Dhalla is the Director of Impact Partnerships at Consumer Reports, where she leads initiatives that aim to make technology safer, more transparent, and more equitable for all users. Her work focuses on the safety, security, and privacy of digital tools while exposing systemic issues in the marketplace—such as discriminatory algorithms, deceptive design practices, and the digital exclusion of marginalized communities. Her advocacy underscores the urgent need for platforms that center user dignity, transparency, and inclusion—especially when technology mediates something as deeply human as love.
Amira Dhalla
Finn Lützow-Holm Myrstad is the Director of Digital Policy at the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC), focusing on national and international issues related to privacy, cyber security, competition, manipulative designs, telecommunication and more. He leads the development of more ethical digital policies. Using targeted research and global coalition-building, he and his team at NCC convince governments and companies to improve their policies. Some of their projects so far include privacy and security challenges posed by: internet-connected devices, user terms in apps and tech companies use of dark patterns. He is also the EU Chair of the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue's INFOSOC Committee, which gathers 75 organizations from both sides of the Atlantic. Myrstad shapes opinion through addresses to audiences such as the G20, European Parliament, SXSW, Princeton University and TED.
Finn Lützow-Holm Myrstad
Carrie Goldberg is a victims’ rights attorney who has built a team that provides cutting edge legal help for clients under attack by pervs, assholes, psychos, and trolls. She is the author of 2019 New York Times Editor’s Choice Nobody’s Victim. Her work includes pioneering product liability litigation for victims of catastrophic injuries against technology and social media companies, including representing the plaintiffs in Herrick v. Grindr, A.M. v. Omegle, and Estate of Mikael Scott v. Amazon.com. Carrie was honored to receive Day One’s Trailblazer award in 2021. In 2020, Carrie received the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project Joan Meier Founder’s Award for her work transforming the legal landscape for domestic violence survivors. Carrie was the recipient of 2017’s Privacy Champion Award from Electronic Privacy Information Center.