Muslim dating app Muzmatch has lost an appeal in its continuing legal battle with Match Group.

Match Group, which owns popular dating apps like Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, filed a lawsuit against Muzmatch to change its name due to striking similarities with its own brand. The judge in the appeal upheld the June 2022 ruling calling for Muzmatch to make the name change, and the company has recently complied, changing its name to Muzz per The Times of India.

The original ruling also found in favor of Match Group due to SEO (search engine optimization) issues. Having “match” in the app’s name would mean keywords comprising the word “match” would increase Muzmatch’s chances of appearing higher up in Google searches, which means Muzmatch would unfairly benefit from Match Group’s brand.

Four college students have developed a new AI tool that is aimed to help singles communicate better over dating apps. Rizz generates personalized responses to messages using a screenshot of the chat, so singles can choose one, customize it, and move conversations forward.

The developers are coders who told The Washington Post that they struggled to chat with people, and this inspired them to create the app. "The reason we created this app is that we're experiencing the pain of not fully knowing how to converse with people," co-founder Charis Zhang told The Washington Post.

Rizz’s founders are all sophomores in college, with Zhang, Oliver Johansson and Tobias Worledge at the University of California at Berkeley; and Daniel He goes to school at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Netflix dropped its first trailer for the new series The Ultimatum: Queer Love, which will premiere on the streaming service in May.

The trailer is a departure from the original Ultimatum series because all of the couples on the new dating reality show are LGBTQ+ for the first time. According to The Pink News, the new series promises to “showcase more stories of love, relationships and the ups and the downs of commitment” with “brutal honesty” as each couple hits a crossroads in their relationship.

Notably, as show creator Chris Coelen promised last year, this installment would feature “an all-queer cast made up of women and non-binary people.”

Tinder has announced the launch of its new Photo Verification feature, which includes an AI-powered update and video selfie requirement.

According to Tech Crunch, the new Photo Verification is to help users prove they aren’t a bot or catfisher on the dating app by taking video selfies that can be analyzed by AI against their photos. Previously, users were required to take a selfie as instructed by the app to compare against a profile photo, but Tinder is strengthening its process even further by requiring the video selfie, so there is no room for error.

The process for verification requires the user to complete a series of videos responding to questions or prompts, and then the AI tool scans the videos and compares them to the photos the user wants to include in their profile to see if they match. The AI tool uses 3D mapping of facial geometry for both the video and photos, according to Tech Crunch.

Image: Netflix

The wildly popular dating reality series Perfect Match has been renewed for a second season by Netflix. The series debuted in February of this year and spent five weeks on Netflix’s Global Top 10 English TV list, and reaching the top 10 TV lists in 58 countries, according to Deadline.com.

The show doesn’t introduce new singles to its audience – instead, it brings together stars who remained single after they left other popular dating reality shows like Love is Blind, The Ultimatum, Too Hot to Handle, and The Mole.

The characters convene on a tropical island (per usual for reality shows) and try to find their “perfect match.” The twist is that the singles have to compete to form relationships, and the most compatible couples have the most power. These couples play matchmaker, with the ability to break up others and send them on dates with other singles they invite to the villa.

One of Germany’s most prominent banks, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale, has reduced its shares of Match Group by 4.7 percent.

According to BestStocks.com, DekaBank now owns 178,837 shares which amounts to about $7.2 million, compared to the previous quarter in 2022 where it held 187,697 shares worth $11 million.

Match Group’s stock price fell 10.45 percent between March and April according to Investing.com, and has fallen 54.78 percent overall in the last year. In addition, a Goldman Sachs analyst has now adjusted its price target for Match Group stock, lowering it to $58, down from $65 earlier in the year. It still suggests the company’s stock is a buy, according to Market Screener.

Match Group is listed as a “moderate buy” among analysts according to Bloomberg.com, but several shareholders have now filed class-action lawsuits against the company for not being forthcoming about the problems with Tinder’s product rollouts. Tinder brings in the lion’s share of revenue for the company, and for the first time, the app saw a decline in Q4 2022.