The hidden consequences of being banned from dating apps

When Mimi*, 22, was in college, she created a fake profile on the dating app Hinge to report another phony account. Someone was impersonating her then-boyfriend on the app, and the couple wanted to report this account together. "I didn't think much of it at the time," she says. But two years later, single and living in New York City, Mimi turned back to Hinge, this time in a real attempt to try online dating and meet someone new. She quickly discovered she had been banned.