Legal

Governor Doug Ducey of Arizona just signed into law a bill that requires online dating companies to inform their users when they have communicated with potential scammers, according to a report from Fox 10 News.

The bill HB2396 was sponsored by Republican lawmaker Regina Cobb of Kingman, Arizona, and requires dating services to inform its members if someone they had been in contact with was banned for a suspected scam, in an effort to reduce abusive and criminal activity on dating apps. These companies were previously prohibited from doing so.

The law requires the notice to be sent my mail or email, and according to Fox News 10 in Phoenix, it also provides immunity for dating app companies to prevent them from being sued.

Garbo is a non-profit provider of Background Checks

Tinder announced that it will offer background checks on potential dates, a new measure that parent company Match Group has taken to improve safety for users of the app. Currently no dating app conducts criminal background checks on users, so this is a huge step forward for safety advocates.

Match Group has partnered with Garbo, a non-profit that provides background checks, and plans to debut an in-app background check feature on Tinder later this year according to The Washington Post. There are no details yet on the cost of the service.

Tracey Breeden, Match’s new head of safety and social advocacy, said in an interview: “This gives [Tinder users] an opportunity and that comfort level. Maybe they want more information before they have a video chat, maybe they want more information before they meet in person.”

Image: FTC

The Federal Trade Commission found that more online dating scams happened in 2020 than ever before, thanks to people flocking to dating apps in the wake of the pandemic. 

The FTC released a new report in February citing the disturbing news, noting that dating app scams are the most lucrative for criminals because they provide an easy way to access and manipulate targets. Scammers are able to create an emotional connection with their victims when they target them on dating apps, and are better able to keep extracting money. The total amount of stolen funds on dating apps in 2020 was estimated to be $304 million, or about $2,500 per victim. This was double the amount stolen from dating app users in 2019, according to Insider.

Utah House Committee

The Judiciary Committee in the Utah House of Representatives just passed a bill that would allow people to search the legal records of anyone they meet online, providing new safety measures for online daters.

The bill would allow Utah residents to have easier access to a service called Xchange, which provides information from Utah’s public court system, according to The Daily Universe, the paper published by Brigham Young University. Right now, broad access is limited, but if the bill is passed, residents can opt to pay a monthly fee to use it and get relevant history and information on potential dates.

Bumble Founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd became a billionaire this week after Bumble made its stock market debut on February 10^th.

The company offered shares initially at $43 a piece (up from its proposed initial amount of $28 to $30 per share), valuing the female-focused dating app conglomerate at over $8 billion. Shares surged immediately, trading at more than $76 each, making the firm worth $13 billion by the end of the day, according to CNN.

Bumble is one of the most high-profile IPOs in the tech industry this year, and its 31 year-old founder is an anomaly among tech CEOs as CNN points out – she doesn’t come from a STEM background, she didn’t raise billions in venture capital, but now she is a young female billionaire.

The Norwegian Data Protection Authority has notified dating app Grindr that it could be fined as much as $11.7 million U.S. dollars for sharing the personal data of its users to third parties without their consent. The company has until February 15th to respond to the notice, at which time the Authority will make its final decision.

According to the report from Associated Press, Grindr’s data sharing practice was in violation of European Union privacy rules (GDPR), which requires app companies to let users know how their personal information is being shared as well as obtaining their consent. The Norwegian Consumer Council alleged that Grindr was sharing user information with third party companies so that they would be able to send more targeted ads to users of the app. However, Grindr’s customers weren’t given a thorough explanation of how their data was being used or asked if they consented to sharing it.