Safety

Match Group announced the launch of its new gay dating app Archer on June 1st, just in time for Pride month.

According to Tech Crunch, Archer is a “social-first” dating experience specifically for gay, bi and queer men. The app is distinguishing itself from other gay dating apps like Grindr and Scruff by offering traditional social media features within the app.

For example, the app has interest tags that you can search, making the search process easier and allowing filters to be set. Free-form tags will be available post-launch, so users can customize their own interests. Most similarly to social platforms, users can follow one another, paving the way for similar features. (There are plans down the line to add a Stories feature, too.)

New research shows that the global dating market is still growing, and is expected to surpass US $12.8 billion by the year 2032. Currently, the market is at US $7.3 billion.

Most of the CAGR (compound annual growth rate) will come from the Asia-Pacific market, where there is the largest young population. In fact, this region has 2 billion active internet users, accounting for 49 percent of the total population. India, Japan and China are seeing the most growth, especially with technology advancements and AI-driven matchmaking and dating services attracting younger users.

However in 2022, North America still brought in the most revenue share at 39 percent, followed by Europe at 25 percent, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Tinder has announced the launch of its new Photo Verification feature, which includes an AI-powered update and video selfie requirement.

According to Tech Crunch, the new Photo Verification is to help users prove they aren’t a bot or catfisher on the dating app by taking video selfies that can be analyzed by AI against their photos. Previously, users were required to take a selfie as instructed by the app to compare against a profile photo, but Tinder is strengthening its process even further by requiring the video selfie, so there is no room for error.

The process for verification requires the user to complete a series of videos responding to questions or prompts, and then the AI tool scans the videos and compares them to the photos the user wants to include in their profile to see if they match. The AI tool uses 3D mapping of facial geometry for both the video and photos, according to Tech Crunch.

Image: Bumble

Dating app Bumble is dipping into politics again, this time in the U.K. The company has joined forces with Grazia magazine, UN Women UK, and celebrity Amy Hart to encourage legislators to change the proposed Online Safety Bill (OSB), which deals with the issue of cyberflashing.

The proposed bill’s language includes determining whether the cyberflasher (the person sending unsolicited nudes to someone without their knowledge or consent) had harmful intent, which Bumble says would be difficult to prove. Critics say that this also gives a lot of room for the accused to claim they sent these images as a “joke,” according to AOL.com.

In March, Bumble issued a press release acknowledging the milestone that the UK government agreed to make cyberflashing a criminal offense under the OSB. In the same release, they advocated that “to drive societal change, any new law must be based on non-consent.” The company argued that instead of focusing on the intent of the sender, the law should be focused on whether or not the recipient gave prior consent. 

Tinder has become a pawn in some new intelligence tactics employed by Russian spies. They are using the app to woo German soldiers as informants, so they can obtain intelligence about Ukraine’s war strategy.

According to Insider, German newspaper Welt am Sonntag broke the story, reporting that Russian agents are specifically targeting politicians and members of Germany’s armed forces as sources of information, and they are using dating app Tinder as a tool to reach them.

Germany’s Military Counterintelligence Service (MAD) confirmed at a recent NATO meeting in the country that “members of other intelligence services (e.g. Russia) use social media to specifically establish contacts with members of the Bundeswehr,” or the German armed forces, according to Insider. MAD also confirmed that Tinder was the app most used.

Australia’s Communications Minister Michelle Rowland has ordered the country’s top ten dating app services to hand over information on sexual violence reports, including Tinder, Bumble and Grindr.

According to Australian Associated Press, the information will include reports on “the extent of harm being experienced by users” as well as the safety protocols of these apps. Rowland has also requested data on the number of reports the app companies have received in regard to sexual harassment and abuse among users on these platforms, including during a message exchange or after a date.

Each dating app company is also required to share its protocols for preventing banned users from returning to the app under a new name and account, as well as the actions it has taken in response to reports, including police referrals or other services provided to users, according to AAP.