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Image: Tinder & Peacock

Dating app Tinder has partnered with Peacock streaming service to launch “Horror Movies” as an in-app Interest and also to host private date night screenings for horror movie fans.

The new Horror Movies Interest badge Tinder is adding allows its users to filter and search for those who share a love of scary films, according to Tinder’s press release. In addition, Peacock is adding a new dedicated “For You and Boo” date night collection to its service, which will be available starting October 5th.

To add the new interest badge to their profiles, users can go to “edit profile” and scroll down through the interests to find “Horror Movies,” and select it. Once added, Tinder users will also be eligible for an exclusive in-app offer, but only between October 4 and October 31.

Tinder has partnered with the Centre for Social Research (CSR) to create a new safety guide for app users in India.

The safety guide, along with 15 safety features that are accessible on the Tinder app, are part of Tinder’s efforts to improve safety for users. The new guide “leverages CSR India’s insights amid the intersection of technology and violence against women,” according to Tinder’s announcement.

Starting in September, Tinder users will get a prompt through the app’s messaging system on how to access the safety guide, according to the Hindustan Times.

The Australian government told the dating app industry that they must improve safety standards on their apps or risk being forced to make changes through legislation. Dating app companies were given until June 30th, 2024 to develop a “voluntary code of conduct” to address user concerns about safety.

According to the Associated Press, the government was basing its decision on new research that found three-quarters of dating app users in Australia between 2016 and 2021 had suffered some form of sexual violence. The research was conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology and published last year.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland noted that dating apps have become the most popular way to meet people, and therefore must improve when it comes to protecting the people using them. “The government is concerned about rates of sexual harassment, abusive and threatening language, unsolicited sexual images and violence facilitated by these platforms,” she said, according to Associated Press.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has brought a lawsuit against dating app eHarmony, alleging the company misled consumers through false advertising. It also alleges that the company deceived its customers about pricing and renewing their subscriptions.

According to The Guardian, the lawsuit filed in Australian federal court alleges the company of “entrapping singles” by showing them only blurred photos of their matches and not allowing them to send messages without paying for a subscription. The lawsuit also accuses the company of luring customers to sign up by falsely advertising “free dating” on the platform, as well as short-term membership offers and early cancellation opportunities.

In reality, users opting for the “free service” completed an 80-question profile survey before they had access to look at potential matches. However, when users completed the questions, they were served blurry profile photos of other members, and were only able to send one message as a reply to a premium member. If they wanted to continue messaging, they were required to pay for the service.

Young jobseekers in China are increasingly turning to Tinder to network and look for a job, rather than to find a date.

According to Sixth Tone, young Chinese college graduates are gravitating to the platform in the midst of a record-setting 20 percent unemployment rate across the country. Tinder is not one of the more popular dating apps in China, but it is known, mostly for the type of people who are on it. Namely, employees of large companies that hold some of the most coveted jobs in the country.

Tinder is also not officially accessible in China, though residents have found a way to join. In fact, the difficulty associated with accessing the platform is one of the reasons people are turning to it – because they have access to people they wouldn’t normally encounter in everyday life. In this region, Tinder skews toward people who have studied overseas and now work for international companies.

Image: Tinder

Tinder is reaching out to the coveted Gen Z market by partnering with Saweetie to welcome eighteen-year-olds to college, and to encourage them to meet people using the app.

Swipe Off is the nationwide challenge the dating app has launched, where it will award the college or university with the most swipe activity with a free concert headlined by the popular rapper, along with a surprise special guest.

The Swipe Off challenge is only open to select campuses participating in Tinder U, which is a feature college students can select that lets them connect with others at their school. According to the company’s announcement on the blog, the school that accumulates the most likes (or nopes) on Tinder by October 6th will win the free concert with Saweetie.