Industry

The former chief privacy officer at Grindr says the company fired him after he raised concerns about privacy violations on the platform, according to the lawsuit he filed in a state court in Los Angeles.

Ron De Jesus claimed in the lawsuit that the LGBTQ+ company willfully ignored his concerns about its “alarming” privacy practices concerning personal user data, according to Bloomberg Law, including retaining sensitive data like nude photos without the consent or knowledge of the user. The document alleges the company also collected the HIV status of users, even after they deleted their accounts.

"In other words, deleted users' private communications, including naked photos and other highly sensitive content, such as HIV status are not only still stored in Grindr's systems, but also its vendor systems, and potentially retrievable by any employee of Grindr, or its third-party support vendor, through a backdoor to Grindr's application," De Jesus claimed in the lawsuit, according to Business Insider.

Image: Bumble

After three years heading up Bumble, Inc., President Tariq Shaukat has announced he will be stepping down from his role effective September 1, 2023. He will be moving to an advisory role during the transition period, according to the company.

Shares of Bumble stock fell 6 percent the following day in response to the news, according to Investing.com. (The announcement was made after trading hours.) Shaukat has played an important role in the growth of the company, and is recognized for successfully leading it through its IPO in 2021. He’s also credited with expanding the user base, including in new and developing markets.

Analysts at Evercore ISI reacted to Shaukat’s exit, viewing it as “incrementally negative for the company,” according to Investing.com.

Match Group announced the launch of its new gay dating app Archer on June 1st, just in time for Pride month.

According to Tech Crunch, Archer is a “social-first” dating experience specifically for gay, bi and queer men. The app is distinguishing itself from other gay dating apps like Grindr and Scruff by offering traditional social media features within the app.

For example, the app has interest tags that you can search, making the search process easier and allowing filters to be set. Free-form tags will be available post-launch, so users can customize their own interests. Most similarly to social platforms, users can follow one another, paving the way for similar features. (There are plans down the line to add a Stories feature, too.)

Bumble is expanding its suite of apps with the acquisition of Official, an app that helps people improve their relationships through check-ins and date planning, according to Fast Company.

Networking and friendship building are already part of Bumble’s platform, and Official adds to the mix to encourage couples to better communicate and set intentions in their relationships.

Official will remain a standalone app for now instead of being folded into Bumble’s app, though CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd told Fast Company that there were opportunities for the two platforms to “collaborate.” Couples who met on another app will also be able to sign up for Official, which means joining Bumble’s userbase. With the addition of Official, Bumble is seizing on an opportunity to keep people on its platforms even after they’ve met and formed a relationship.

New research shows that the global dating market is still growing, and is expected to surpass US $12.8 billion by the year 2032. Currently, the market is at US $7.3 billion.

Most of the CAGR (compound annual growth rate) will come from the Asia-Pacific market, where there is the largest young population. In fact, this region has 2 billion active internet users, accounting for 49 percent of the total population. India, Japan and China are seeing the most growth, especially with technology advancements and AI-driven matchmaking and dating services attracting younger users.

However in 2022, North America still brought in the most revenue share at 39 percent, followed by Europe at 25 percent, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Bumble beat analysts’ expectations for its first quarter earnings report, with user spending remaining strong despite concerns over inflation and a recession.

According to Reuters, Bumble saw strong user growth during the first quarter of 2023 as more people chose to pay for its features and subscriptions. The news sent the company’s stock up 7 percent in aftermarket trading.

Bumble reported revenue of $242.9 million for the first quarter of 2023, higher than analyst expectations of $241 million, according to Refinitiv data. Total paying users were a bright spot: Bumble reported 3.5 million paying users at the end of Q1, up from 3 million just a year earlier. Total paying users grew 31 percent to 2.3 million for Bumble.