Industry

Apple has been fined five million euros for not complying with a recent ruling regarding dating apps leveled by the Authority for Consumers and Markets, a watchdog agency in The Netherlands.

The ACM said that Apple had not yet complied with its order to allow third-party payment options for dating apps on the Apple Store platform, which was issued in late December. The agency also said that it would continue to fine Apple five million euros per week (roughly $5.6 million US) until it properly complies with the order, up to $50 million euros in total, according to The Verge.

The issue is that while developers can now let Apple know if they are interested in using third party payment systems in their apps, Apple has not provided a straightforward way to do this, and there is very little technical support in place from Apple to help developers move forward. Another issue is that Apple is forcing developers to choose between two options: directing users to a third-party site to complete transactions outside of the Apple Store, or to stay in the Store’s ecosystem if they want to keep in-app purchases as an option for users.

After receiving numerous complaints from their users, dating apps in South Korea are cracking down on users who mask up in their profiles in an attempt to hide their faces.

According to The Korean Herald, this practice has become known as “magikkun,” from the English word “mask” and the Korean word “sagikkun,” which means fraud. People who use masks in their profile photos are assumed to be deceiving potential matches, because they are hiding what they look like in real life. 

Some users are avoiding swiping right on masked-up profiles altogether, where others use video chat or request a selfie from the user before agreeing to meet them in person.

Following a ruling by The Netherland’s privacy watchdog, Apple has agreed to allow dating apps that operate in the country use payment options outside of the Apple Store, according to Reuters.

Previously, all payments made through the apps had to go through Apple’s payment platform, which meant that app developers had little control over billing issues or questions from their customers. But also (and perhaps more importantly to the developers), a certain percentage of every sale (from 15 to 30 percent) was collected by Apple, cutting into their profits.

Match Group partnered with other app developers in lodging the complaint, which resulted in The Netherland’s watchdog agency Authority for Consumers and Markets to investigate. The agency ruled against Apple, so the tech company went to court in December to seek an injunction against the order, according to Tech Crunch. However, the court rejected Apple’s arguments, saying that the company had until January 15th to comply with offering payment options outside of its platform to dating app users, so Apple agreed to the terms.

The online dating market continues to grow in the wake of the pandemic, with expected revenue to increase to $4.5 billion US by 2025.

According to research firm Statista, the industry is expected to reach about $3.7 billion US this year (up from $2.86 billion in 2020) as more people join and become active users, in part due to global lockdowns. The pandemic has shifted attitudes towards dating apps, with more singles than ever before downloading and swiping.

Revenue has increased along with new users, as many of the apps are offering popular “freemium” pricing in addition to subscriptions. While the majority of users don’t want to commit to paying a monthly fee to join a dating app, they are willing to pay for certain features, like messaging, being able to see if someone already liked their profile, or putting their profile at the top of search lists. Offering these services as premium paid features has been a boon for dating apps, increasing overall market revenue substantially, especially during the pandemic.

The OASIS Consortium published its first set of safety standards for the next generation of the Web, which includes the metaverse. The goal is to create a blueprint for how companies and developers should approach online safety going forward.

The Consortium was founded in 2021 shortly after the insurrection at the Capitol in the U.S., a day where a mob terrorized and threatened lawmakers ahead of the certification of Biden as President. Investigations into the riot have shown how social media, particularly Facebook and its outsized influence, has helped to radicalize people when it comes to their political viewpoints.

According to Time Magazine, The Consortium addresses issues across a number of tech industries, including dating apps, video games, and immersive tech platforms that are leading the way into the metaverse, or what’s called Web 3.0. Leaders from Riot Games, The Meet Group (which owns dating apps like MeetMe, LOVOO, Growlr, and Skout) and others have helped to develop these standards for improving safety and privacy as people spend more time online.

Match Group, owner of the popular dating apps Tinder, OkCupid and Hinge, has sued dating app MuzMatch for Trademark infringement.

The online dating company said that MuzMatch, a British-based matchmaking app for Muslims, has copied their products and services, according to The Daily Mail. Match Group pointed to the use of the word “match” in the app’s metadata, which are keywords used by companies to make their products more prominent in Internet search findings. Match Group says that MuzMatch has included keywords like “match-muslim” and “uk-muslim-match,” which the company says are its registered marks that MuzMatch is co-opting for their own benefit.

MuzMatch rejects the allegations, saying that Match Group doesn’t have claim to the word “match.” The British company also has a U.S. copyright registration for the wordmark “Muzmatch” that has been in place since 2015, as well as in France and Germany.