Privacy

Apple has complied with the rules of Dutch regulators to allow third party payment systems for dating apps instead of going through the Apple Store. However, it will be charging a 27 percent commission to allow these platforms to operate.

Tech Crunch reported that dating apps in the Netherlands are no longer required to go through the Apple Store for handling payments and billing questions, nor are they required to pay Apple 30 percent for each transaction made over a dating app. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets previously fined Apple $5 million euros per week until it complied with its order.

However, dating app developers who use a third-party payment system are now required by Apple to pay a new commission of 27 percent, just slightly below the old charge. Apple is also requiring app developers to send a report of digital sales so they can invoice. And  as Tech Crunch pointed out, dating app developers looking to expand offerings to the Netherlands will have to submit two different apps for approval – the Dutch app and non-Dutch app.

Popular gay dating app Grindr has disappeared from China’s app stores, including the Apple Store, as government officials tighten control over online behavior. 

Chinese officials said there were compliance issues with Grindr regarding China’s Personal Information Protection Law, according to Bloomberg. The law requires that data stored in applications that is transferred to other locations be approved by government officials, and it limits the amount of personal data stored in apps.

In addition, China’s Internet authority began a month-long campaign to identify and eliminate any illegal and sensitive online content, according to the Bangkok Post. This move comes at an interesting time, coinciding with the celebration of the Beijing Olympic Games and the Lunar New Year.

Apple has been fined five million euros for not complying with a recent ruling regarding dating apps leveled by the Authority for Consumers and Markets, a watchdog agency in The Netherlands.

The ACM said that Apple had not yet complied with its order to allow third-party payment options for dating apps on the Apple Store platform, which was issued in late December. The agency also said that it would continue to fine Apple five million euros per week (roughly $5.6 million US) until it properly complies with the order, up to $50 million euros in total, according to The Verge.

The issue is that while developers can now let Apple know if they are interested in using third party payment systems in their apps, Apple has not provided a straightforward way to do this, and there is very little technical support in place from Apple to help developers move forward. Another issue is that Apple is forcing developers to choose between two options: directing users to a third-party site to complete transactions outside of the Apple Store, or to stay in the Store’s ecosystem if they want to keep in-app purchases as an option for users.

After receiving numerous complaints from their users, dating apps in South Korea are cracking down on users who mask up in their profiles in an attempt to hide their faces.

According to The Korean Herald, this practice has become known as “magikkun,” from the English word “mask” and the Korean word “sagikkun,” which means fraud. People who use masks in their profile photos are assumed to be deceiving potential matches, because they are hiding what they look like in real life. 

Some users are avoiding swiping right on masked-up profiles altogether, where others use video chat or request a selfie from the user before agreeing to meet them in person.

Dating app Bumble said that it is actively campaigning to make cyberflashing illegal in England and Wales, as it continues to fight for policies to protect women on dating apps.

The term cyberflashing is used when someone (typically a woman) receives an unsolicited explicit photo via a messaging app or Airdrop. According to a study by YouGov in the UK, 41 percent of women aged 18 to 36 have been sent an “unsolicited photo of a man’s private parts.” This is illegal in many places, but not currently in England or Wales. 

In its own research, Bumble found that 48 percent of women ages 18 to 24 had received an unsolicited and explicit photo just in the last year, with 25 percent saying they felt violated because of it. A majority of almost 60 percent said they felt less trusting of others they interacted with online after the experience, and one quarter said that this occurrence has increased over the course of the pandemic, according to Mashable.

The OASIS Consortium published its first set of safety standards for the next generation of the Web, which includes the metaverse. The goal is to create a blueprint for how companies and developers should approach online safety going forward.

The Consortium was founded in 2021 shortly after the insurrection at the Capitol in the U.S., a day where a mob terrorized and threatened lawmakers ahead of the certification of Biden as President. Investigations into the riot have shown how social media, particularly Facebook and its outsized influence, has helped to radicalize people when it comes to their political viewpoints.

According to Time Magazine, The Consortium addresses issues across a number of tech industries, including dating apps, video games, and immersive tech platforms that are leading the way into the metaverse, or what’s called Web 3.0. Leaders from Riot Games, The Meet Group (which owns dating apps like MeetMe, LOVOO, Growlr, and Skout) and others have helped to develop these standards for improving safety and privacy as people spend more time online.