General News

Actress Sharon Stone was blocked on Bumble in late December, and took to Twitter to air her concerns publicly. Bumble responded and tried to restore her profile, but days later, Stone still wasn’t able to access it.

Stone signed up for Bumble to start dating again, according to reports. She was surprised when the female-friendly app quickly shut her profile down, claiming it was fake. She then posted about it on Twitter and Instagram, along with the screenshot of the message from Bumble saying she was blocked.

“I went on the @bumble dating [site] and they closed my account. 👁👁 Some users reported that it couldn’t possibly be me!” she tweeted. “Hey @bumble, is being me exclusionary ? 🤷🏼‍♀️ Don’t shut me out of the hive 🐝”

The newest generation entering adulthood is Gen Z (born 1995 or later) – those late teen and early twenty-somethings who plan to vote in their first election. And the thing they seem to crave most from a dating app like Tinder is connecting with other political activists.

Social justice is a big part of forging connections for Gen Z. They are facing a lot of challenges with rising student debt, low-paying jobs, and gun violence, but one of their biggest concerns is the threat of climate change. They want to meet and date others who are willing to fight and protest with them on a variety of social justice issues.

For the past several months, protests have been breaking out on a regular basis in Hong Kong, thanks to young student activists who want to maintain the city’s democratic leanings over the more oppressive mainland Chinese government’s rule. But along with the students who are moved to action, dating culture in Hong Kong is also changing as a result of the protests.

Many daters use popular dating apps like Momo, Tantan or Tinder to connect with each other, and aren’t afraid to list their political feelings in their profiles or when they message other daters. (Adding a yellow ribbon to your profile means you sympathize with protestors while a blue ribbon means you support the police and the mainland Chinese establishment.) Some are even posting photos of themselves at protests as a way to attract potential dates with the same political leanings.

Tencent, China’s largest social networking platform and operator of the immensely popular app WeChat, has launched a new dating app that seems positioned to compete with both Tinder and Tantan, China’s most popular dating app.

Qingliao - roughly translated as “light chat” – is kind of a hybrid of different dating app features already on the market. There is no swiping, but users can choose to “like” or “pass” on a potential match by choosing an “X” or a heart. When two users are matched, they can start chatting, according to details described in South China Morning Post.

Got the hots for your married boss? Or the cutie in accounting? If you’ve fantasized about having a fling with a taken colleague, a naughty new dating service is here to help.

Affair at Work is designed to help attached employees “safely” cheat on their partners in the workplace. Although dating services for affair-seekers are nothing new (Ashley Madison is the most notable among them), Affair at Work takes a slightly different approach. The service works via Instagram and is centered around the idea of verifying if an office crush shares your interest.

Grindr G4E Homepage

In an effort to protect users around the world, Grindr has announced new safety features and unveiled a ‘Holistic Security Guide’ in six languages. These releases are designed to help queer users navigate dating in countries where a culture of homophobia, biophobia and transphobia puts them at risk.

Scott Chen, President of Grindr, said in a statement, “As Grindr has grown to become a vital part of the gay, bi, trans, and queer community, we feel a responsibility to provide important information and evolving tools to facilitate our users’ safe dating experience. Our work in improving the well-being for the LGBTQ community around the globe is far from finished, but we are proud of these additional features to help provide a safer platform for our users.”