Reporter, Finance, Regulation and People, Dating Industry Insights. Edited by Bill Alena.
Hayley Birkin reports on the business of online dating for Dating Industry Insights: earnings, funding rounds, deals and valuations, the laws and regulators that shape the sector, and the people who lead it.
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From 4 March, Google will ban dating advertisers without certification from Search, Display and YouTube, putting smaller dating apps at risk.
SeniorMatch has made live video verification with human review mandatory for all new members, aiming to catch AI-generated fake profiles.
Dutch banks say dating fraud victims lose an average of €25,000 per scam, and the NVB reports 'pig butchering' cases up 25% since 2022.
Greed Dating says it built AI cyberflashing detection in hours with open-source models and ChatGPT, but has disclosed no accuracy rates.
MillionaireMatch has launched Confidentiality Guard, an opt-in mutual NDA letting users take legal action over shared profile information.
A University of Texas study of 122 students links dating app use to riskier sex, but cannot prove causation, and operators resist an educator role.
Bumble rewrote its privacy policy in October after pressure from Mozilla but refused to introduce opt-in consent for third-party data sharing.
University of New Mexico research finds dating app couples cross more religious and educational lines but show stronger same-race preferences.
Victoria Milan faces an Illinois class action alleging its selfie verification breaches the state's biometric privacy law (BIPA).
Match Group, Bumble and Grindr signed an Australian voluntary code requiring harm detection and public safety ratings by April 2025, or face legislation.
Australia's voluntary dating app safety code becomes mandatory in 2026 if industry adoption and compliance fall short of government expectations.
Black and Asian dating app users get fewer likes and matches than white users with identical profiles, and algorithms can turn a 20% gap into 40%.
Tinder's new Take Action Center lets its 18 million US members register to vote, check status and find polling places in the app, with Vote.org.
Northern Rail continues to block dating apps on its passenger WiFi under the Friendly WiFi scheme, saying the aim is to protect children.
Only 30% of 3,000 employed Americans feel safe on dating apps, per Checkr research, but 68% prefer meeting organically, a bigger risk for operators.
Tinder has launched a six-month consent campaign in the Netherlands with Rutgers, running through July 2025 ahead of the Sexual Offences Act.
Bumble has promoted Elizabeth Monteleone to Chief Legal Officer, with its share price 80% below its IPO peak and policy advocacy central to her role.
Apple's iOS 18 lets users hide apps behind Face ID with no notifications or icons, threatening push-driven engagement at dating apps.
The McPartland Review proposes that tech firms, including dating platforms, disclose third-party suppliers that handle sensitive user data.
Tinder has published a 16-page safety guide for women and 'dissidents' in Mexico but has announced no enhanced verification or safety staffing.