WooPlus Could Drop Facebook After Users Shut Out of Accounts
Contributed by: kellyseal on Wednesday, October 13 2021 @ 09:39 am
Last modified on Wednesday, October 13 2021 @ 10:12 am
Members of dating app WooPlus who use Facebook logins to access their accounts recently got shut out, creating a huge problem the company wasn’t able to address in a timely manner. As a result, WooPlus is considering ditching Facebook altogether from its login options.
Almost 1.5 million members of the popular dating app for curvy people weren’t able to login to their accounts via Facebook, a typical way for dating app platforms to be able to verify members. The company said that Facebook had failed to notify them in advance that they planned to lock out these users and didn’t offer a reasonable explanation for doing so.
Some WooPlus members said that they were forced to set up new accounts without using Facebook to login to the app, but that they weren’t able to access any of their old account information, messages or matches, causing even more frustration. Others said this wasn’t the first time Facebook booted them out.
WooPlus said in a press release[*1] that the “unprovoked incapacitation” happened after the company submitted a required assessment to Facebook, but didn’t hear any feedback that there was a problem or that changes needed to be made. Instead, Facebook arbitrarily terminated access for WooPlus users completely without notice or explanation, leaving the company in a bind.
Shortly after the issue was brought to their attention, WooPlus complained to Facebook that users were being locked out, but the company’s complaint wasn’t handled promptly, either. In fact, for more than 14 days, WooPlus executives waited to hear from the Facebook Developers Operations Team, with no response.
WooPlus didn’t mince words when it came to criticizing Facebook for this move, which crippled the company and its ability to respond to angry users.
“Is this some kind of discrimination Facebook conducts toward a specific group of audience, denying their convenient right to use?” the company said in a statement, implying that by shutting curvy people out of a dating app catering to their preferences amounted to discrimination.
WooPlus users have been able to access the app via Facebook since 2016. It’s been an easy way for people to join, as profile information and pictures can be populated from a user’s Facebook profile. But now the company is rethinking its relationship with the social media giant, saying it’s due to Facebook’s “arrogant and arbitrary treatment abusing the dominant position of its monopolistic platform.”
WooPlus is considering removing the Facebook login option altogether, and has asked for other app developers to join them in ditching Facebook to make a statement and unite against “Big Tech.”
WooPlus launched in 2015 and currently has over 5.5 million members worldwide. You can find more about this dating service by reading our WooPlus review.