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Grindr’s new Chief Privacy Officer Kelly Peterson Miranda is setting the record straight regarding the app’s privacy policies and use of personal data following allegations and a recent lawsuit.

The interview with The Record Media takes place in the wake of several allegations that Grindr has violated user privacy rights when it comes to their personal data.

The LGBTQ dating app was sued in April for allegedly sharing the HIV status of its users with third parties without their consent. Before that, its former privacy officer Ronald De Jesus has said that the company stored user data, including photos and videos, even after people deleted their accounts, which violated the app’s privacy policy.

And last year, the Electronic Privacy Information Center appealed to the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Grindr for its history of abuses.

Bumble is expanding its focus with the acquisition of Geneva, a platform built around connecting people with groups and clubs to help “build community.”

According to Tech Crunch, the acquisition further expands Bumble’s platform beyond dating in the hopes of gaining new users and growing revenue. As Tech Crunch noted, the company laid off a third of its workforce earlier this year, and has been struggling to increase its paying userbase along with other dating apps.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed with the announcement according to Tech Crunch, but as it pointed out, Bumble CEO Lidiane Jones has said that the company will be pursuing acquisitions to drive growth. This new purchase indicates the company is interested in community-building on its platform, likely to drive engagement.

Image: Tinder

A new study by dating app Tinder shows that women and men have major misconceptions about what each other wants from dating apps.

According to USA Today, Tinder’s “Green Flags Study” polled 8,000 heterosexual men and women between 18-34 years old across the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada and Australia to see what people think of the opposite sex when it comes to using dating apps. Researchers pointed out that both men and women who identify as straight were quick to make assumptions about what others actually want out of Tinder, and turned out to often be wrong.

More than half of male (53 percent) and female (68 percent) respondents said they are seeking a romantic relationship.

Dating app Bumble publicly apologized after its new ad campaign about letting go of celibacy was not well-received.

The company debuted billboard ads reading: “You know full well a vow of celibacy is not the answer” juxtaposed against an introduction to “the new Bumble.” This was part of a brand redesign promotion, according to AP.

The ad appeared tone deaf to many women, some referring to it as “anti-choice” during a time when women’s decisions and control over their bodies are being taken away in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision regarding abortion. When the Bumble ad seemed to be telling them what to do with their bodies, coming from a dating app with a reputation that puts women first, it sparked outrage.

Founder and former CEO of Bumble Whitney Wolfe Herd told audiences at the Bloomberg Technology Summit that dating apps should lean heavily into AI, including chatbots that can advise users and even go on dates for them.

Herd, who stepped down last year, noted that Bumble will use AI "to help create more healthy and equitable" dating experience, according to Gizmodo.

“You could, in the near future, be talking to your AI dating concierge. You could share your insecurities,” Wolfe Herd said on stage at the Summit, according to Gizmodo. “There is a world where your dating concierge could go and date for you with other dating concierges.”

Dating app Tinder continues to lose paying subscribers according to Match Group’s latest earnings report. Match Group’s overall revenue for Q1 has been impacted by Tinder’s ongoing struggles, but it continues to hold strong in the dating app market overall.

According to Fast Company, Match Group said that Tinder’s paying user base for the first quarter fell 9 percent from the same quarter last year. The company’s CEO Bernard Kim remained optimistic, saying that they expect to slow user declines in the second half of the year.

However, Match Group’s revenue is up, with net income at $123.2 million for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $120.8 million this time last year, according to Marketwatch. Revenue rose 9 percent for the company to $859.6 million, compared to $787.1 million the same time last year. (Match Group revenue also beat overall analyst expectations of $855.8 million.)