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After purchasing a majority stake in Grindr last year, ​​​​​​a Chinese gaming company has acquired the rest of the popular dating app for gay men. The acquisition means a major payday for the company, but China experts and former intelligence officials fear it could spell privacy problems for users.

Kunlun Group purchased 60 percent of Grindr in January 2016 for $93 million. The Chinese firm has now acquired the remaining stake for $152 million, according to stock filings, which some believe puts the Chinese government in a position to demand sensitive data on the app’s users, including those who are not Chinese citizens.

Kunlun Group initially indicated that Grindr founder Joel Simkhai would stay on as CEO, but following the completion of the deal, Simkhai has left the company with no explanation for his departure.

Dating apps run by 21 firms in China have been shut down amid allegations of fraud affecting hundreds of thousands of customers.

According to the Modern Express newspaper, police have arrested more than 600 suspects operating across 13 provinces after it was revealed that some of their messages purporting to be from female users were in fact being automatically generated by computer programs.

The investigation began in August 2017, after one app was suspected of fraudulently charging customers to view pornographic videos that did not exist. When users complained, customer service representatives were instructed to invent excuses such as a malfunctioning mobile version or poor internet speed. Users would then be charged again each time they tried to view the imaginary content.

Match Group, the company who brought online dating into the mainstream first with iconic dating site Match.com and then with its acquisition of Tinder, is looking for new business opportunities outside the dating industry. This week at CES, the company announced the new app Ripple for those wanting to network for career opportunities.

The app is positioned to be a direct competitor of LinkedIn, a popular career building and networking site. According to Ripple executives, LinkedIn’s framework is too stagnant for users to effectively network, and ends up being primarily a database of resumes. LinkedIn also doesn’t do much to create stickiness for people to update their profiles and check in regularly, unless they are actively seeking clients or trying to find a job.

Ripple borrows the matching game from Tinder to help with its stickiness. When you launch the app, Ripple presents you with people who might be a good professional match, based on interests, people you are connected to, events you’re attending, and groups you are part of. Ripple also includes your social networks like Twitter and Medium, so potential employers or work colleagues can see what you’re posting and what is most current (encouraging you to be more active). Users are able to decide whether someone is a good fit, and then connect with them.

That dating services sometimes make dubious claims should surprise no one, but rarely do their fishy fabrications make headlines. Unfortunately for eHarmony, a recent misstep has proved to be the exception.

The company's claim that it uses a "scientifically-proven matching system" has been banned by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority after appearing on a billboard in the London Underground.

"Step aside, fate,” the advertisement boldly proclaimed. “It's time science had a go at love."

In the smaller print below, it continued: "Imagine being able to stack the odds of finding lasting love entirely in your favour. EHarmony's scientifically-proven matching system decodes the mystery of compatibility and chemistry so you don't have to. Why leave the most important search of your life to chance?"

Popular dating app Tinder is testing a new feature called Feed, aimed at providing users more insight to their matches, and to help spark conversations.

Feed consists of a real-time feed of social media posts from a user’s matches, specifically posts from Instagram and Spotify. The idea is that users can look at what their matches are virtually sharing moment by moment to get a better idea of what they are like – what they are listening to at any given time, where they are, and what they like doing.

The new feature will appear as a tab in the messages screen, according to website Tech Crunch. Users can respond directly to posts in their Feed without having to go back to the profile screen, making it easy to interact. Instead of having to be too descriptive in the profile, or thinking of something unique to say as an introduction, users can let their Instagram photos and playlists speak for themselves.

eHarmony just notified us that they are now offering an eHarmony Guarantee (for eHarmony US members only for now). The guarantee reads:

We guarantee you will be satisfied with the matches we introduce to you at eharmony.




If you are not satisfied with your matches in 3 months, we’ll give you an additional 3 months free.

eHarmony members that are eligible for this guarantee are ones who have subscribed to at least a 3 month membership or higher. A profile with at least 3 approved photos must be completed along with the Relationship Questionnaire. An eligible member also must have communicated with at least 5 other members (sent or replied to messages).

If you think you qualify for the eHarmony guarantee and would like to receive it then all you need to do is contact customer service via chat, email or phone before the expiration or renewal date of your membership. For more information about this dating service you can read our eHarmony review.