Industry

Omiai Dating App Homepage

One of Japan’s leading dating apps Omiai reported that it had been hacked, exposing the personal data of over 1.7 million of its users in one of the country’s most high-profile security breaches.

According to Bloomberg, some of the data leaked was especially sensitive, including photo IDs from driver’s licenses, insurance cards and passports that are used to verify users’ ages. Credit card data was not exposed, according to the company, but it’s unclear how many accounts were accessed.

The app’s developer Net Marketing Co said that after discovering the breach, it blocked the hacker’s IP address and implemented a number of other security procedures to safeguard user data, according to Gizmodo. Still, Japanese markets responded unfavorably to the news with the company’s stock falling 19 percent. Since Net Marketing Co went public in 2017, this has been the biggest drop in share price for the $70 million company. 

The U.S. government is doing all it can to encourage people to get vaccinated, including partnering with dating apps to reach more people while they congregate online. Tinder, Bumble, OkCupid, Hinge, Match and Plenty of Fish are some of the most high-profile apps participating.

The dating apps are providing some incentives for vaccinated users, too – including vaccination status badges for easy identification among matches, search filters according to who has gotten the vaccine, and free access to popular paid features, according to NextGov. 

For example, Tinder users can indicate whether they support vaccines on their profile and vaccinated users can access “Super Likes” – a popular paid feature that allows users to let someone know if they are really interested.

Match Group testified in front of the U.S. Senate recently, arguing that tech giants Apple and Google are allowing underage users to access its dating apps.

Underage users have been able to download dating apps with age restrictions even while signed into their Apple or Google accounts, simply by clicking “yes” on a pop-up verification notice that asks if they are 18 or older. Neither Apple nor Google cross-checks the verification with their own data, and neither has set up a process to prevent these users from accessing the apps beyond the pop-up notice. 

Match Group’s chief legal officer Jared Sine testified on April 21st, according to Bloomberg News, saying that Apple and Google are allowing people under 18 years of age to download their dating apps despite the age restrictions. According to Sine, these companies are aware of the problem and ignoring it anyway; and they refuse to share personal user data with Match Group to address it.

Gay dating app Manhunt says that it was hacked in February of this year, and the personal data of a portion of its users was exposed. 

A hacker caused the data breach according to a statement submitted by the company to the Washington State Attorney General. Manhunt maintains that the hacker “downloaded the usernames, email addresses and passwords for a subset of our users in early February 2021,” according to The Advocate. 

Manhunt has over 6 million users, and about 7,700 of its users who reside in Washington had their data stolen according to the statement. In total, the company’s attorney says about 11 percent of Manhunt users were affected by the breach.

Apple announced in early April that it will soon be rolling out its new privacy notification for users who download any app from its store. The company didn’t give a specific launch date but said that it would happen “in the coming weeks” according to Reuters. 

Apple has created a one-time notice that requires an app developer to ask for the user’s consent before the app is able to track personal data and share it with third parties, according to Reuters. CEO Tim Cook described the notification in a podcast with tech journalist Kara Swisher, saying it will appear as a short checklist of how the app will use data, to make it easier and more transparent than sifting through the standard pages-long privacy policies that most people do not read. 

Digital advertisers and app developers are worried that the notification would cause many more users to decline permissions. 

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.