Safety

The U.S. State Department has issued a warning to international travelers to avoid using dating apps when traveling to Colombia. The warning comes after a series of eight deaths in the country were linked to dating apps.

According to CBS News, the deaths took place in Medellin, Colombia’s second-largest city, and resulted from a forced overdose and suspected homicides. Other incidents have taken place in Bogota and Cartagena, according to reports. Though the deaths themselves do not seem to be linked, they all involved the use of dating apps luring travelers to meet.

“Numerous US citizens in Colombia have been drugged, robbed, and even killed by their Colombian dates,” the embassy said in its notice. The embassy also noted that many crimes like this go unreported, as victims are too embarrassed to contact authorities.

Dating app Grindr has announced a strategic partnership with Ex-human to add an AI assistant to its platform.

According to Decrypt, Ex-human is a bit different from the familiar AI tools we’ve seen, which focus on answering fact-based questions. Instead, Ex-human is designed to engage in “emotionally resonant and meaningful conversations” according to Decrypt.

In fact, the AI model offers virtual companions like imaginary geishas and popular figures like Elon Musk. The companions are designed to show expressions and reactions to different prompts, so the user feels more engaged with the bot.

Dating app giants Bumble and Match Group have pulled their ads from Instagram after The Wall Street Journal reported that they were appearing next to inappropriate and explicit content.

According to The Times of India, the Wall Street Journal found that the ads of several major brands were being served next to explicit and sexualized content on the social media app, including those of Disney and Walmart.

The Journal set up Instagram test accounts alongside The Canadian Centre for Child Protection which followed young gymnasts, cheerleaders and influencers. When its investigative team looked through Reels on these test accounts, they discovered that Instagram “served jarring doses of salacious content.”

Several China-based dating apps have added location trackers as a premium feature to boost revenues, but it’s also boosting suspicions among users.

According to South China Morning Post, some of these features include real-time location tracking, daily check-ins with partners, and allowing your partner to check your phone usage. In theory, the idea is to increase transparency and build closer connections between partners, but in reality, the features are causing more tension between them.

Understandably, this trend has sparked controversy, especially among those who already have partners who are suspicious of their behavior. The features can be quite intrusive, including a subscription that allows mutual sharing of smartphone usage time, battery level, network status and screen unlock history. It is not clear how knowledge of these particular features contributes to improved relationships. In fact, they seem to be exacerbating existing problems in relationships.

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee has passed The Online Dating Safety Act. It is now eligible to be brought to a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives, though the timing of the vote remains unclear.

According to The Washington Examiner, the Act would require dating app services to provide a “fraud ban notification” to users who have been in contact with a user who had previously been removed from the platform for fraudulent activity. Additionally, the notification would have to include a statement that the banned member may have been using a false identity or attempting to defraud other users.

Bill H.R. 6125 also requires the notification to include a warning that the user being targeted by the fraudulent actor should not send money or personal information to another member, as well as a link to resources on fraud prevention and tips on how to avoid online fraud, according to The Ripon Advance. The bill stipulates that the dating platforms must provide a customer service number that is attached to the warning so that users have someone to speak with if they have questions or concerns.

Blued, China’s most popular gay dating app, plans to expand in Southeast Asia and in the U.S. while the Chinese government clamps down on LGBTQIA content.

According to Rest of World, Blued’s new parent company New Town wants to make the platform “the world’s largest social network for the LGBTQIA community,” and part of its strategy is to encourage user participation and community interaction, especially outside of China.

New Town’s CEO Li Ping sees enormous potential in the LGBTQIA market, and intends to grow the platform by targeting markets in Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Southeast Asia and North America. “The growth of the LGBTQ population in Southeast Asia and North America is particularly evident,” a spokesperson told Rest of World.