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The U.S. government is doing all it can to encourage people to get vaccinated, including partnering with dating apps to reach more people while they congregate online. Tinder, Bumble, OkCupid, Hinge, Match and Plenty of Fish are some of the most high-profile apps participating.

The dating apps are providing some incentives for vaccinated users, too – including vaccination status badges for easy identification among matches, search filters according to who has gotten the vaccine, and free access to popular paid features, according to NextGov. 

For example, Tinder users can indicate whether they support vaccines on their profile and vaccinated users can access “Super Likes” – a popular paid feature that allows users to let someone know if they are really interested.

Tinder Are you Sure?
Feature for sending Messages

Image: Tinder

Dating app Tinder unveiled a new feature as part of its effort to step up safety measures on its platform. “Are You Sure?” or the AYS? feature will deliver a pop-up to question a user before they send a potentially harmful message.

According to Mashable, AYS? utilizes AI in real time to detect inappropriate language, based on what users have reported to Tinder in the past. When a user types a message that is flagged or noticed by the AI, an AYS? prompt will automatically appear before the user can press “send.” According to Tinder, in early tests this feature reduced harmful language in messages by as much as 10 percent. The company also said that members who saw this pop-up were less likely to be reported for sending inappropriate messages, an indication that it could curb this behavior.

The goal with using an AI-driven feature is that it will improve and become more effective in countering harmful messages over time as it gathers more input.

Gay dating app Manhunt says that it was hacked in February of this year, and the personal data of a portion of its users was exposed. 

A hacker caused the data breach according to a statement submitted by the company to the Washington State Attorney General. Manhunt maintains that the hacker “downloaded the usernames, email addresses and passwords for a subset of our users in early February 2021,” according to The Advocate. 

Manhunt has over 6 million users, and about 7,700 of its users who reside in Washington had their data stolen according to the statement. In total, the company’s attorney says about 11 percent of Manhunt users were affected by the breach.

WooPlus, an inclusive dating app for curvy people, is testing out its new live feature ‘Love Advisor,’ which aims to help its users find love and curb bad behaviors like ghosting and endless messaging that leads nowhere, according to the company’s press release.

Love Advisor is a live support feature that will help users better communicate when they are using the app, offering real-time guidance so they can avoid some common dating pitfalls. 

According to the press release, Love Advisor will provide:

Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona just signed into law a bill that requires online dating companies to inform their users when they have communicated with potential scammers, according to a report from Fox 10 News.

The bill HB2396 was sponsored by Republican lawmaker Regina Cobb of Kingman, Arizona, and requires dating services to inform its members if someone they had been in contact with was banned for a suspected scam, in an effort to reduce abusive and criminal activity on dating apps. These companies were previously prohibited from doing so.

The law requires the notice to be sent my mail or email, and according to Fox News 10 in Phoenix, it also provides immunity for dating app companies to prevent them from being sued.

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble has released a new safety guide for online daters in India to address safety issues and the rise of cyber bullying, which are rampant on online platforms.

The guide is part of a new initiative called “Stand for Safety” according to The Hindustan Times. The move is in partnership with Safecity, which helps women across the country to identify, prevent and combat abuse on online platforms. 

Bumble conducted a survey among its users in India and found that 83 percent of women experience online harassment of some kind, and one-third of women experience it at least weekly. Almost 70 percent feel that cyberbullying has also increased since the pandemic took hold and lockdowns began. These numbers alarmed company executives, whose mission it is to improve safety for women on its platforms, so they decided to take action by publishing the guide.