Match Group

A committee from the U.S. House of Representatives is investigating popular dating apps such as Tinder, Bumble and OkCupid following a report that found underage users and sex offenders were using the apps.

According to a report from AP, the House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on economic and consumer policy sent separate letters on Thursday January 30th to Bumble, Grindr, The Meet Group, and Match Group (which owns Tinder and OkCupid among others). The letters asked for information on “users’ ages, procedures for verifying ages, and any complaints about assaults, rape or the use of the services by minors,” according to AP.

The subcommittee is also seeking additional information on privacy policies for each of the apps, and what users see when they are asked to review or accept such policies. Recently, dating apps have also come under fire for third-party sharing of personal data, where user information wouldn’t be protected by the dating app’s own privacy policy.

A New York City task force on cyber sexual assault has discovered more than 70,000 photos of Tinder users on an online cyber-crime forum. Aaron DeVera, a member of the task force, told reporters that the images were found on a site known for trading in malicious software and that only female users appear to have been targeted.

Gizomodo was the first outlet to share the news. According to the original report, the photos were accompanied by a text file containing around 16,000 unique Tinder user IDs. Items found in the photos, like the iPhone X, and metadata indicate that many of the pictures are relatively current — some, in fact, have timestamps dated as recent as October 2019. The availability of this information to cybercriminals raises serious concerns about why it was collected and what it could be used for.

Image: OkCupid

OkCupid launched a new provocative ad campaign called “Ask Yourself,” which focuses on questions that can serve as deal-breakers to younger daters. The campaign doesn’t shy away from getting political, since the majority of its customers are most interested in partners that align with them politically.

The campaign includes illustrated outdoor posters that feature the most popular topics discussed among OkCupid users. For example one poster states: “It’s OK not to date a man who won’t vote for a woman” and “It’s OK to choose to only date someone who’s pro-choice.” It also features animations and a series of polls for Instagram stories, gauging people’s opinions on a wide range of topics from light to serious - such as thoughts on body hair, climate change, and Trump’s impeachment.

Boomers are looking for love and increasingly turning to dating apps to do it. But Tinder isn’t necessarily what they are looking for.

BBC reported that the demographics with the biggest growth for dating app usage are 18-24-year-olds and those over 50. Between 2013 and 2015 when Tinder began to take off, online dating tripled for the younger demographic and doubled for those aged 55-64, according to Pew Research Center.

However, older daters were finding obstacles in using popular apps like Tinder that continue to cater to young users. For example, when Tinder launched its premium paid service, the company charged significantly more for older users, which caused an outcry. Some dating apps don’t let people over 50 sign up at all, so boomers were either having to lie about their ages or look for another platform. 

Match Groups CEO Mandy Ginsberg

Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg has announced she will step down from her role at the company for health and personal reasons.

The news comes as Match Group is in process of separating from its parent company IAC, which is expected to close in Q2 of this year. Shar Dubey, Match Group’s president, will take over for Ginsberg starting March 1st.

According to The New York Post, Ginsberg told Match Group employees the news in an email, citing personal and health reasons for her departure. She described a “personally trying” period according to reports. These included a recent surgery correcting a previous double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer as she was diagnosed with the BRCA1 gene, as well as a tornado slamming into her Dallas home, rendering it unlivable. Ginsberg is stepping back to take care of her health and her family.

It seems like almost every Tinder user has a horror story. For some, it’s a first date that looks nothing like their photos. For others, it’s being ghosted after weeks of messaging back and forth. And for many, it’s connections that end in harrassment, discrimination, insults, unwanted sexual advances and other ills that online dating has become notorious for.

Tinder is hoping to curb behavior that violates its community standards with a recent update. The company announced in a blog post that it will now use artificial intelligence to detect offensive messages before they reach their intended recipients. The feature, called Does This Bother You?, is powered by machine learning and aided by human members of the Tinder community. Similar technology also plays a role in Undo, an upcoming feature that will allow Tinder members to take back a message containing potentially offensive language before it’s sent.