Legal

A dating app with a hook-up reputation is getting it on IRL, too. In July, the popular dating app hired event organizers to throw parties for its most exclusive members in a rented house in the Hamptons. Unfortunately, partygoers (and Tinder) were soon booted out.

According to an article in Gizmodo, the company threw “a series of parties at telecom mogul Michael Hirtenstein’s oceanfront home...Over the weekends of July 14th and July 21th, cops reportedly visited the property multiple times due to noise complaints from neighbors.”

According to Page Six, attendees were also cited for carrying open containers and illegally parking.

Online dating skeptics have plenty of reasons for opting out of modern singles’ favorite way to date, but here’s one they probably hadn’t thought of yet: personal photos being stolen for use in AI experiments.

A user of Kaggle, a platform for machine learning and data science competitions which was recently acquired by Google, exploited Tinder’s API to scrape 40,000 profile photos from Bay Area users of the dating app. He used them to train artificial intelligence, and also organized the images into a downloadable facial data set called People of Tinder.

Stuart Colianni, the creator of the data set, described it as a “simple script to scrape Tinder profile photos for the purpose of creating a facial dataset.” He also described Tinder as offering “near unlimited access to create a facial data set” and said his scraping the app offers “an extremely efficient way to collect such data.”

Spark Networks and Affinitas GmbH have entered into a definitive agreement to combine in a stock-for-stock merger. The merger will bring together leading global brands like JDate, ChristianMingle, EliteSingles, and eDarling to cater to a broad spectrum of users with a presence in 26 countries, creating a more diverse and balanced footprint.

With nearly 500,000 period-ending subscribers and over $115 million in revenue for the twelve months ended March 31, 2017, the combined company would be one of the world's largest online dating providers on a pro forma basis.

The transaction has been approved by Spark's Board of Directors and is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017. The combined company will be named Spark Networks SE and will be headquartered in Berlin, Germany, while maintaining a significant U.S. presence with offices in New York City and Lehi, Utah.

In much of the world, dating services like OkCupid and Tinder are openly used for hookups. It’s a reputation some have tried to shake, but many tolerate and others have even embraced. It’s 2017 - that’s just how people date.

Unless, that is, you’re dating under the watchful eye of the Indian government.

Authorities in India plan to enact regulations that prevent singles who aren’t interested in marriage from using matrimonial websites. The new rules will require websites to keep IP address records, and require users to upload documents proving their identity. A government official told Bloomberg that the regulations are designed to ensure the websites aren’t being “misused.”

Snapchats new logo.

The company behind Snapchat, which recently changed its name to Snap Inc., is now facing a trademark lawsuit over its new moniker. Snap Interactive, a company that operates dating applications for social media websites, filed the suit at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, October 25.

Snapchat’s rebranding was intended to reflect the company’s expanding goals. "We rebranded our company to Snap Inc. because we are bigger than just one app," chief strategy officer Imran Khan told Adweek. "Snap Inc. is a camera company—we believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate."

Gay men and women are now allowed to search and meet through dating site Christian Mingle, one of the largest niche dating sites in the industry. The site opened its platform to gay users after settling a lawsuit that claimed that it violated California’s non-discrimination law on the basis of sexual orientation.

According to the conditions of the settlement, Spark Networks who own Christian Mingle among other dating sites, will change their homepages to allow users to specify if they are a man or a woman, and also if they are looking for men or women. While Spark also agreed to create a more comprehensive and tailored matching service for users seeking same sex relationships within the next two years, the dating site Christian Mingle as it exists for gay singles can be frustrating.