The Islamic Republic of Iran has unveiled a dating app to facilitate “lasting and informed marriage” for its youth.
The app, named Hamdam, is built by the Tebyan Cultural Institute, part of Iran’s Islamic propaganda organisation.
Guardian UK quoted Ali Mohammad Rajabi, Iran’s cyberspace police chief, as saying that Hamdam is the only state-sanctioned platform of its kind in the Islamic republic.
There are claims the app uses “artificial intelligence” to find matches “only for bachelors seeking permanent marriage and a single spouse”.
Users will then have to verify their identity and undergo a psychology test before using the app.
When a match is made, the dating app will then proceed to “introduce the families together with the presence of service consultants” who is to “accompany” the couple for four years after their marriage.
At the unveiling, Komeil Khojasteh, Tebyan head, said that family values in Iran were threatened by outside forces.
Adding that the app would create “healthy” families, he said: “Family is the devil’s target, and [Iran’s enemies] seek to impose their own ideas.”
Hamdam comes as Iran’s authorities warned about the country’s rising age of marriage and declining birth rates.
In 2020, Iran’s annual population growth fell to 1.29 percent and more than half of the country’s population is under 35.
The government warned it could become one of the world’s oldest countries in three decades if action isn’t taken.
In March 2021, Iran’s parliament had passed a bill mandating the government to offer financial incentives for marriage and couples having more than two children. But it is yet to be approved by the guardian council.
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