Hayley Birkin
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.
619 stories. Latest: .
Regulation stories by Hayley Birkin, page 5 of 10
- Bumble's Data Breach Lawsuit: A Business Model, Not Just a Security Flaw
Bumble faces a Texas class action over an alleged ShinyHunters ransomware attack exposing over 30 GB of user records. Bumble disputes the scope.
- Meta Is Suing the Scammers Who Use Its Platform to Run Romance Fraud. Years Too Late, But Here We Are.
Meta is suing scam operations in Brazil and Vietnam and sent cease-and-desist letters to eight former Business Partners over alleged fraud.
- Romance Scams Extracted $1.16B in Nine Months. The Industry Owns Part of That Number.
US romance scam losses reached $1.16B in the first nine months of 2025, per FTC data, with complaints up 22% year on year.
- Malaysia Blocks Grindr and Blued. The Regulatory Risk GRND Investors Keep Ignoring.
Malaysia's MCMC has blocked Grindr and Blued in the first named ban on Western dating apps in Southeast Asia, setting a regional precedent.
- Discord Misclassified 90% of Users as Adults. Age Verification Cannot Be This Hard.
Discord says behavioural signals classified 90% of its users as adults without ID checks, a challenge to dating apps that rely on ID uploads.
- Instagram Is Becoming a Reels App. Every Dating Brand That Ignored Short-Form Video Just Ran Out of Time.
Meta is testing an Instagram redesign that opens to Reels by default, putting organic reach at risk for dating brands that still rely on static photo posts.
- X's DSA Appeal Sets a Precedent Dating Apps Cannot Afford to Ignore
X has appealed its €120M DSA fine over paid blue checkmarks and researcher access, a case that could shape verification rules for dating apps.
- Japan Made Dating App Fraud Illegal. The Rest of the World Is Watching.
A Tokyo District Court awarded ¥1.5M ($9,800) against a married man who hid his marital status on a dating app, with another case seeking ¥5.5M.
- Swept Built an In-App Date Planner and Required Government ID. One of Those Is a Good Idea.
Swept has added an in-app Date Planner and VPN detection, and will make government ID verification mandatory for all visible profiles by March 2026.
- Australia Banned Teens From Social Media. Snap Lost 3 Million Daily Users. Dating Apps Are Next.
Snapchat has restricted or shut 415,000 Australian teen accounts since the under-16 ban, and Snap reported a global loss of 3 million daily users.
- Meta Kills Messenger.com. Its Most Private Users Have Nowhere Left to Hide.
Meta will shut down messenger.com in April 2026, so desktop users who deactivated Facebook must reactivate it. Mobile access remains.
- Bluesky Outsourced Its Encryption. Dating Apps Should Read the Small Print.
Bluesky used profile badges in February 2026 to route users to Germ DM for encrypted chat, a model the story says carries risks for dating apps.
- LinkedIn's Crackdown Reveals How Thin the Line Is Between Networking and Dating
LinkedIn will remove automated comments and penalise engagement pod users, a change that affects dating brands and B2B vendors using the platform.
- MyTruDate Made Verification Mandatory. The Legal Exposure Is Real.
MyTruDate, a Florida dating app, now requires ID verification and criminal background checks for all users, a US first.
- Portugal's ID Mandate: A Blueprint for Dating Apps' Age Verification
Portugal voted 148-69 for parental consent for 13- to 16-year-olds on social media, with fines up to 2% of global revenue.
- Singapore Is Using Dating Apps as a Demographics Policy Tool
Coffee Meets Bagel users in Singapore get discounts at 11 cultural venues from 14 February 2026 under a government SG Culture Pass partnership.
- India's 3-Hour Takedown Rule: A Product Crisis for Dating Apps
India cuts its content takedown deadline from 36 hours to three on 20th February, requiring dating apps to automate deepfake and AI photo detection.
- Valentine's Day Delivers a Revenue Spike and a Mental Health Bill. Both Are Growing.
A clinical analysis links Valentine's Day to higher suicide risk and problematic dating app use, raising duty of care questions for platforms.
- Snapchat's Location Alerts Are a Dating Safety Feature Nobody Asked For
Snapchat's Home Safe recorded over 1 million activations in six months, 0.23% of its 443 million daily active users.
- EU's TikTok Case Puts Dating Apps' Engagement Tactics on Notice
The European Commission accused TikTok on 6 February of breaching the DSA over infinite scroll and autoplay, features dating apps also use.
Companies Hayley covers most
- Match Group (54)
- Grindr (25)
- Bumble (19)
- Meta (7)
- Matrimony.com (6)
- Ithaca Holdings (5)
- Aisle (5)
- ODDA (3)
- ParshipMeet Group (3)
- Hello Group (3)
The DII team
- Kim Harris, Reporter, Technology, Data and News
- Bill Alena, Editor and founder