Facebook

In what is becoming an all-too-familiar headline, a security researcher has discovered an online database containing sensitive personal information belonging to hundreds of millions of Facebook users. Names, phone numbers and unique users IDs were exposed in the breach.

Bob Diachenko first came across the data on December 14, ten days after it was created, and reported the leak on Comparitech. The trove was available for anyone to access without a password or any other form of authentication. Based on evidence he discovered, Diachenko believes the stolen data is most likely the result of an illegal scraping operation or Facebook API abuse by criminals based in Vietnam. The information contained in the database puts users at risk of multiple digital hazards, including SMS spam and phishing campaigns.

Facebook Dating has announced the launch of its new “Stories” feature, which allows users of the service to include stories from their Facebook and Instagram feeds.

Stories can’t be directly created in a user’s dating profile, according to Forbes. Instead, when they are created in Facebook or Instagram, the feature allows for that content to be shared to the Facebook Dating profile. In order to access the new feature, users are required to opt-in by linking their Facebook and Instagram accounts to their dating profile. Once the accounts are linked, they can add any stories they’ve posted in the last 24 hours.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Tinder co-founder Sean Rad “irrelevant” back in 2014, but still gave him special access to user data, according to leaked emails reported by Forbes.

Zuckerberg had considered entering the online dating industry as far back as 2014, but ultimately put the decision on hold and granted the founder of Tinder, now one of the most popular dating apps in the world, special access to user data. Facebook colleagues suggested he meet with Rad, but Zuckerberg rejected the suggestion, saying in the emails, “I don’t think he’s that relevant. He probably just wants to make sure we won’t turn off their API.”

Shares of Match Group fell 15 percent after the company announced it will miss revenue goals for the fourth quarter. Shares of IAC also fell by 11 percent, according to Reuters.

The company expects fourth quarter revenue to be between $545 and $555 million, short of the $559.3 million goal according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

This news comes on the heels of a complaint filed by the U.S. Federal Trading Commission that Match Group offered fake profiles to entice customers to purchase paid subscriptions to its services, among other “deceptive and unfair practices,” as said in the lawsuit. Match Group is also facing legal entanglements with former Tinder employees, including founder Sean Rad, who said the company cheated him out of rightful payment after undervaluing his stock options.

Facebook Dating just launched, but privacy advocates are warning despite all the opt-in features, Facebook could be collecting more data than you realize.

Facebook Dating is reassuring potential customers by allowing them to make decisions about how visible they want to be on the app – including providing features to block certain users from appearing in your matches (like an ex) and hiding your dating profile from friends and work colleagues. Even some of the more questionable features – like “secret crush” – where you can identify someone you secretly like over the app, and if they do the same you two are matched, are only activated when users choose them.

More than a year after the company first announced the feature, Facebook Dating has finally made its way to the US. Anyone with a Facebook account who is over 18 can opt into the dating service from the Facebook mobile app.

"We've been really slow, actually, with this rollout," Charmaine Hung, a product manager at Facebook Dating, told CNN Business. "We really wanted to make sure we got it right because dating is so personal."

Was Facebook Dating worth the wait? Here’s what you need to know before giving it a try.