General News

Image: Tinder

Dating app Tinder is testing two new individual paid features on its app: Super Boost and Read Receipts.

The new Super Boost feature allows users to forgo the algorithm process and have their profiles pushed to the top of potential match’s feeds during peak swiping hours, according to website The Verge. The second feature allows users to pay for the ability to turn on Read Receipts for a particular chat thread, to see if a potential match has read their messages.

Bumble is joining forces with Marie Claire Australia to launch the Glass Ceiling Awards, a celebration of powerful women in business who are breaking gender barriers and furthering equality in the workplace. The awards, scheduled to be held on June 19 in Sydney, will be presented in conjunction with Estée Lauder Companies.

Nominees will compete in eight prize categories for individuals and businesses:

Lebanon’s Telecommunications Ministry has blocked access to Grindr on the country’s state-owned internet service provider, sparking concern amongst activists, allies and human rights organizations.

The local Daily Star newspaper was the first outlet to report on the ban. The Telecommunications Ministry reportedly sent a memo to Lebanese internet service providers ordering them to block the app. Within several days, users found they could not access Grindr over the state-run ISP Ogero. Amnesty International obtained confirmation from an official source at the ministry that a ban had indeed been put into effect.

Tantan, the popular dating app often referred to as China’s Tinder, was recently removed from the Chinese app store in an effort by the government to “clean up content in cyberspace,” according to ZDNet.

There were no specifics given as to why the app was removed, but the company issued a statement saying that it is complying with the government’s requirements. The app was removed from both the Apple and Android stores in China.

Momo, Tantan’s parent company, also issued a statement saying it was "proactively communicating with the relevant government authorities" and will "fully cooperate" to restore the app's availability "as soon as possible," according to Yahoo! Finance. Shares of the company tumbled after the app’s removal.

Beijing Kunlun Tech, a Chinese company which owns the popular dating app Grindr, will now be forced to sell it by June 2020, according to a report by CNN.

Beijing Kunlun Tech owns 60% of Grindr, a popular dating app in the LGBTQ community. Last year the company was planning to take the app public but was stopped when the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) intervened. The U.S. government agency oversees purchases of businesses by foreign entities and expressed concern that the national security of the U.S. would be threatened by the acquisition of the dating app by a Chinese tech company, because of the sensitive user information it had access to.

Toffee, the UK-based dating app aimed exclusively at privately-educated singles, is beginning its international expansion with Australia. The app was widely criticized as elitist when it launched in the UK last April, but shows no sign of slowing down in the face of controversy. Toffee will become available for Android users in September, followed by the Australia launch in November. Additional international rollouts are planned over the next 12 months.

Founder Lydia Davis insists Toffee was not born out of snobbery. “I’ve found that people from similar backgrounds tend to stick together,” she told Vogue earlier this year. “It was never our intention to be elitist. Schooling is a big part of people’s lives – 10 years of their childhood. It doesn’t define them, but it is part of their identity. It’s just one of many things people might have in common.”