In big news for the dating app industry – Democratic Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg met his husband on Hinge. And after his public remarks praising the dating app, it seems Hinge has also seen a spike in gay users.

Fortune reported that the app has seen a 30 percent increase in gay memberships since April 1^st, around the time the rising star mayor of South Bend Indiana disclosed he used the app and ended up meeting his husband Chasten on it.

“We’re proud of all of the relationships we’ve helped set up — including Mayor Pete and Chasten,” Hinge CEO Justin McLeod told Fortune. “We’re happy to see that their love story has encouraged even more members of the LGBTQ community to find their person on Hinge.”

What do singles value most in potential partners? Is it humor? Generosity? Confidence? Intelligence? eHarmony’s inaugural Singles & Desirability Study, conducted in April 2019 by Harris Interactive, takes a deep dive into what Americans really want out of their dating lives.

The study found that both men and women want a partner who is kind, funny and honest. More than half of all singles said honesty is the most important attribute to consider when deciding who to date. Kindness (44%) and a sense of humor (34%) were named the second and third most desirable traits, respectively. While men were two times more likely than women to prioritize physical attraction, attractiveness ranked fourth overall.

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.