Online Dating

In what is becoming an all-too-familiar headline, a security researcher has discovered an online database containing sensitive personal information belonging to hundreds of millions of Facebook users. Names, phone numbers and unique users IDs were exposed in the breach.

Bob Diachenko first came across the data on December 14, ten days after it was created, and reported the leak on Comparitech. The trove was available for anyone to access without a password or any other form of authentication. Based on evidence he discovered, Diachenko believes the stolen data is most likely the result of an illegal scraping operation or Facebook API abuse by criminals based in Vietnam. The information contained in the database puts users at risk of multiple digital hazards, including SMS spam and phishing campaigns.

California state senator Ling Ling Chang

Whitney Wolfe Herd, founder and CEO of Bumble, is on a mission to make the internet a cleaner, more clothed place. California state senator Ling Ling Chang recently announced that she has partnered with Wolfe Herd on a proposed law that would make it illegal to send unsolicited explicit photos online or via text. This comes nearly eight months after Wolfe Herd backed a similar bill in Texas.

For Chang, the cause hits close to home. She was the recipient of unwanted nude pictures in 2018, when she publicly shared her phone number in an effort to get feedback from her constituents in Diamond Bar, California. Chang claims that 95% of women she has spoken to about the issue have been sent lewd photos they did not ask for.

A new study called "Pressure Points Study 2019" by popular dating app Plenty of Fish revealed that modern dating has become a source of pressure and anxiety for many people. They also found that while daters crave authenticity, they also embellish their own profiles to attract more dates.

In a survey of about 2,000 singles, Plenty of Fish set out to find what singles wanted from their dating apps.

First date jitters are a big concern among daters, especially women, with only 22 percent saying they weren’t concerned, but the vast majority saying they worried about how they come across to their dates. Forty percent of all singles were worried if they were interesting enough, 16 percent were concerned about whether they talked enough, and 12 percent worried if they were considered “fun.”

S'More Dating App Launching Soon for iOS

Adam Cohen-Aslatei, the former Managing Director of gay dating app Chappy, believes today’s singles are looking for “something more” than mindless swiping and superficial, appearance-focused dating platforms. That’s where S’More comes in. Cohen-Aslatei’s new dating app is designed to prioritize getting to know someone before deciding if you’re interested in them — and before you’ve even seen what they look like.

“Ten years ago, casual dating apps made it easy to find people nearby and the hook-up culture was born,” said Cohen-Aslatei. “Then came the second generation of dating apps with a lifestyles appeal, still for casual connections. However, most of the apps were still based on a ‘Hot or Not’ game, and while fun, left the majority of people hopelessly single. A reliance on dating the perfect selfie hasn’t worked, and today millenials are transitioning to relationships apps that focus on getting to know the whole person, which is critical when you’re looking for a relationship.”

Harvard Geneticist George Church

Harvard Geneticist George Church, known for his work on reversing aging, has now turned his efforts to building a dating app that eliminates diseases by matching partners based on DNA compatibility. It works like this: when two users have a low likelihood of passing diseases onto their children, they’ll be matched.

The move has drawn a lot of controversy, namely because of its nod towards eugenics, or “good birth,” an idea popularized under Nazi Germany in the 1930s to eliminate “bad genes” through selective breeding. Church however, argues that the goal is to eliminate disease by pairing people who have the least amount of risk of creating offspring with illnesses or disabilities.

A revealing report published by ProPublica found that Match Group did not conduct background checks on users of their popular free platforms, including Tinder, Plenty of Fish, and OkCupid, leaving their members vulnerable to sexual assault.

Columbia Journalism Investigations analyzed more than 150 incidents of sexual assault among people who met through dating apps over the last decade, ProPublica reported. Most met their matches through Match Group apps. The researchers discovered that registered sex offenders were using Match Group apps like Tinder and went on dates with women who had no idea, because while Match Group conducts background checks for paid apps like Match, they don’t for their free apps.