Grindr

Dating app Grindr announced it will become a public company through a merger with Tiga Acquisition, and that the combined companies have been valued at $2.1 billion.

According to Bloomberg News, Tiga is a special acquisition company and isn’t offering any private investment in public equity (PIPE) deals but will provide Grindr with an estimated $384 million in cash proceeds, which includes $284 million of Tiga’s cash in trust plus up to $100 million in a forward purchase agreement. The company will use the funds to pay down debt and invest in future growth.

Grindr had several offers from other SPACs before merging with Tiga.

Dating app Romeo started a new forum for its users to be able to offer support to Ukrainian refugees, and thousands of members were quick to respond.

The gay dating app is based in Germany and has been popular for years, mainly in Eastern Europe. One of its high-profile features is “groups” or chat forums where users can congregate and discuss topics of interest. This past week, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the app decided to harness the traffic in these forums to call on users for help. Developers launched a group called “Shelter for Ukraine” so that users could offer assistance those fleeing the war.

The app was quickly overwhelmed with users wanting to help, with 8,000 members joining the chat after being active for only four days.

Popular gay dating app Grindr has disappeared from China’s app stores, including the Apple Store, as government officials tighten control over online behavior. 

Chinese officials said there were compliance issues with Grindr regarding China’s Personal Information Protection Law, according to Bloomberg. The law requires that data stored in applications that is transferred to other locations be approved by government officials, and it limits the amount of personal data stored in apps.

In addition, China’s Internet authority began a month-long campaign to identify and eliminate any illegal and sensitive online content, according to the Bangkok Post. This move comes at an interesting time, coinciding with the celebration of the Beijing Olympic Games and the Lunar New Year.

Gay dating apps are leading the way when it comes to encouraging users to disclose their STI status when they use dating apps, according to public health experts. 

Health disclosures on dating apps have taken on new importance since the pandemic took hold, with more users asking potential matches about their vaccination and infection status before agreeing to meet in person. Because of the recent urgency and importance in keeping each other safe from Covid-19, and the rising cases of STIs, mainstream dating apps like Tinder and Bumble are now looking for effective ways of encouraging users to disclose their sexual health status, too. 

Gay dating apps have long been ahead of the curve on this, encouraging users to disclose their STI status up front in the name of public health, according to the National Post.

Gay dating app Grindr was fined $7.16 million (65 million kroner) by Norway’s Internet watchdog agency for violating the privacy rights of its users.

According to ABC News, The Norwegian Data Protection Authority said that Grindr had shared the sensitive personal data of its users, including sexual orientation, to hundreds of potential advertising partners without their consent. 

It’s not the first time Grindr has been accused of violating privacy rights by the watchdog. In 2020, it filed a complaint against Grindr not only because of sensitive data that was shared with third parties, but also because it shared IP addresses and GPS locations, which could identify individual users. 

Scammers stole more than $1.4 million from users of popular dating apps like Tinder, Grindr and Bumble, among others. Dubbed “CryptoRom” by cybersecurity research firm Sophos, the attackers feigned romantic interest with victims to build trust, and then lured them into downloading fake cryptocurrency apps.

According to reports, these scammers used Apple’s Enterprise Development platform to push the fake cryptocurrency apps, which gave the victims a sense that they were legitimate, but in reality, this allowed scammers to bypass the normal app review process. 

The CryptoRom attackers set up fake profiles on dating apps and strike up conversations with users, later moving them to messaging apps. After a time, the subject of cryptocurrency is introduced into the conversation, and the scammer asks the victim to install the fake crypto trading app to make an investment. At first, the victim makes money and is allowed to withdraw from their account, providing a false sense of security. Soon after, they are asked to make a more substantial contribution, and if they do, the scammers not only refuse their withdrawal requests, but blackmail them to invest more and take the money they already paid if they refuse.