# Turkish court blocks access to nine dating apps including OkCupid > By Hayley Birkin | Published: 2026-11-07T07:01:59.044332+00:00 | Section: Regulation | Source: https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/news/turkish-court-blocks-nine-dating-apps-including-okcupid-feeld | Publisher: Dating Industry Insights (High Intent Media Inc) An Istanbul court ordered access blocked to nine dating platforms, including OkCupid and Feeld, on 4 November 2026. No grounds were published for the ruling. ## Key points - Istanbul's 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace ordered access blocked to nine platforms on 4 November 2026 under decision no. 2026/10137, according to İFÖD's EngelliWeb project. - The blocked platforms are OkCupid, Feeld, GROWLR, Zoe, Lex, Bindr, u4Bear, Disco and TheBlowers; EngelliWeb's entry gives no grounds for the ruling. - OkCupid is operated by Humor Rainbow, Inc., with Match Group Americas providing services, according to the FTC; DII has seen no statement from Match Group on the Turkish block. - Turkish Minute reports earlier Istanbul court orders in June 2026, including a 5 June block on Hornet and a 12 June ruling covering HeeSay, Taimi, SCRUFF, Jack'd and ROMEO. ## Article - Istanbul's 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace ordered access blocked to nine platforms on 4 November 2026 under decision no. 2026/10137, according to EngelliWeb. - The list: OkCupid, Feeld, GROWLR, Zoe, Lex, Bindr, u4Bear, Disco and TheBlowers. - The EngelliWeb entry gives no grounds for the ruling, and DII has seen no statement from any of the nine platforms. - It follows June orders against Hornet and a separate list of LGBTI+ apps, according to Turkish Minute and bianet. A Turkish criminal court has ordered access blocked to nine dating and social platforms, among them OkCupid, [Feeld](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/companies/feeld) and [Bindr](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/companies/bindr). The İstanbul 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace issued the ruling on 4 November 2026, according to the Freedom of Expression Association's (İFÖD) EngelliWeb project, which monitors internet censorship in Turkey. The other six names are GROWLR, Zoe, Lex, u4Bear, Disco and TheBlowers. For operators, the immediate question is exposure. OkCupid is operated by Dallas-based Humor Rainbow, Inc., with Match Group Americas providing services to it, according to the US Federal Trade Commission. That links OkCupid to [Match Group](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/companies/match-group) (MTCH). DII has not seen a statement from Match Group or any of the other eight platforms. ### The DII Take This is the third Istanbul court order against dating products in five months, and each has come from a different court. That pattern suggests a sustained approach rather than a one-off, though no source explains what is driving it. The label matters for operators too: when an order sweeps in services as different as OkCupid and GROWLR, a business cannot assume that being general-audience or inclusive keeps it out of scope. ### What the ruling says, and what it does not EngelliWeb's page, published on 4 November, cites decision no. 2026/10137 and describes all nine as LGBTI+-focused dating and friendship platforms. The EngelliWeb entry gives no grounds for the ruling. It consists of a short text and an image of the decision, and Turkish Minute likewise said the announcement did not specify the grounds. DII has not independently reviewed the ruling itself. Scope is also unclear. The published announcements do not say whether the order covers app store listings, social media accounts or only websites. Earlier Turkish orders have reached further, as the June cases below show. Turkish Minute, reporting on 6 November, said the court acted on Wednesday 4 November and noted that some of the blocked services are designed for LGBTI+ people to meet and socialise. Diken, citing İFÖD, also attributed the decision to the 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace. The İFÖD description sits awkwardly with the list, since OkCupid and Feeld are general or inclusive services. Whatever the intent, the order names them. ### A run of orders since June Turkish Minute reports that Hornet's website and app store pages were blocked by the İstanbul 3rd Criminal Court of Peace on 5 June 2026. An earlier [Hornet](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/companies/hornet) ban had been lifted in February 2024 after the Constitutional Court ruled it violated freedom of expression. That precedent is the best argument available to any platform that chooses to contest the new order, though no platform has said it will. On 12 June, the İstanbul 5th Criminal Court of Peace issued a further ruling covering platforms including HeeSay, [Taimi](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/companies/taimi), SCRUFF, Jack'd and ROMEO, according to Turkish Minute. It reached their websites, app store pages and X and Instagram accounts, and X later made the accounts invisible in Turkey. Bianet, citing İFÖD, said that ruling followed the Hornet order. The outlets differ on how many platforms the June ruling named, so DII does not give a count. [Grindr](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/companies/grindr) (GRND) is the long-running case: it has been inaccessible in Turkey since August 2013, according to Turkish Minute. DII covered the company's most recent results in its [Q3 2026 filing](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/news/grindr-files-8-k-furnishing-q3-2026-results-shareholder-letter) story. ### The wider restrictions Turkish Minute links the ruling to broader pressure on LGBTI+ online activity. In September, police operations under an investigation called 'My Family Is Safe' targeted LGBTI+ organisations, activists and businesses. The same month, the T24 news site and its social accounts were blocked over content a prosecutor called 'LGBT propaganda'. Blocking is routine in Turkey. Diken, citing İFÖD's EngelliWeb 2025 report published in June 2026, says 1,505,484 websites and domain names were blocked in the country as of the end of 2025. Against that base, nine more names are a small addition, but the targeting is specific. One separate point on OkCupid. In March 2026 the FTC announced a settlement over allegations that OkCupid shared user data, including photos and location information, with an unrelated third party, contrary to its privacy promises. Nothing in the sources connects that case to the Turkish ruling. It does show the service facing scrutiny on privacy in its home market while losing access abroad. > The EngelliWeb entry gives no grounds for the ruling. ### What to watch Three things matter. First, whether any of the nine publicly challenges the order, and whether the Constitutional Court route that reversed the Hornet ban is used again. Second, whether the ruling's text, which DII has not reviewed, shows that app stores or social accounts are included. Third, whether Match Group says anything about OkCupid's Turkish membership. DII has seen no comment from the company, and it is not clear how much of its business is exposed. - Operators with LGBTI+ or inclusive products in Turkey face a pattern of orders from separate Istanbul courts, so contingency planning for sudden blocks is a compliance question, not a hypothetical. - The absence of published grounds leaves platforms little to rebut. Watch for appeals that cite the February 2024 Constitutional Court ruling on Hornet. - DII has seen no comment from Match Group (MTCH) on OkCupid's block, so any financial impact is unquantified. **Sources:** [9 tanışma ve arkadaşlık platformu erişime engellendi (İFÖD / EngelliWeb)](https://ifade.org.tr/engelliweb/9-tanisma-ve-arkadaslik-platformu-erisime-engellendi/); [FTC Takes Action Against Match and OkCupid for Deceiving Users by Sharing Personal Data with Third Party (U.S. Federal Trade Commission)](https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2026/03/ftc-takes-action-against-match-okcupid-deceiving-users-sharing-personal-data-third-party); [Turkey blocks access to 9 dating platforms, including OkCupid (Turkish Minute)](https://www.turkishminute.com/2026/11/06/turkey-blocks-access-to-9-dating-platforms-including-okcupid/); [Dokuz tanışma ve arkadaşlık platformu erişime engellendi (Diken)](https://www.diken.com.tr/dokuz-tanisma-ve-arkadaslik-platformu-erisime-engellendi/); [Turkey blocks access to LGBTI+ dating apps (bianet)](https://bianet.org/haber/turkey-blocks-access-to-lgbti-dating-apps-320810) ## Key takeaways - Dating operators in Turkey have faced block orders from at least three different Istanbul courts since June 2026, so sudden loss of access is a live compliance risk, according to Turkish Minute and bianet reporting. - With no grounds published for the 4 November ruling, platforms have little to rebut; the Constitutional Court's February 2024 ruling lifting an earlier Hornet ban is the precedent to watch. - DII has seen no comment from Match Group (MTCH) on the block of OkCupid, so any impact on its revenue is unquantified. ## FAQ ### Which dating apps did Turkey block in November 2026? According to EngelliWeb, Istanbul's 1st Criminal Judgeship of Peace ordered OkCupid, Feeld, GROWLR, Zoe, Lex, Bindr, u4Bear, Disco and TheBlowers blocked in a ruling dated 4 November 2026. ### Why did the Turkish court block OkCupid and Feeld? No grounds have been published. EngelliWeb's entry consists of a short text and an image of the decision, and Turkish Minute also said the announcement did not specify grounds. ### Has Turkey blocked LGBTI+ dating apps before? Yes. Grindr has been inaccessible in Turkey since August 2013, according to Turkish Minute, and Istanbul courts issued orders against Hornet on 5 June 2026 and against another group of apps on 12 June 2026. ## In this story - [OkCupid](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/products/okcupid) (main subject) - [Bindr](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/companies/bindr) (main subject) - [Feeld](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/products/feeld-app) (main subject) - [u4Bear](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/products/u4bear) (main subject) - [Growlr](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/products/growlr) (main subject) - [Lex](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/products/lex-app) (main subject) - [Zoe](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/products/zoe) (main subject) - [Grindr](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/companies/grindr) - [Match Group](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/companies/match-group) - [Taimi](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/products/taimi) - [Scruff](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/products/scruff) - [Hornet](https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/products/hornet) --- Canonical: https://www.datingindustryinsights.com/news/turkish-court-blocks-nine-dating-apps-including-okcupid-feeld Citation: "Dating Industry Insights" (https://www.datingindustryinsights.com)