GOV.CO.UK – June 13 – Venntro Media Group, which has ~55M users worldwide and supplies online dating services through ~3.5K sites, has been investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over how it used people's personal data. Venntro operates dating sites on behalf of major media outlets and other organisations, including both general and niche sites. The CMA discovered that people who signed up to Venntro's sites were often unaware their information would be stored in a central database and that their profiles might be visible on other dating sites. Some people signed up for sites featuring explicit adult content without realising that they were doing so. As a result of the CMA's investigation, Venntro has made legally binding commitments to make it clear to people before they sign up that it will share their information on other sites and obtain their full agreement to do this. In addition to this action against Venntro, the CMA has sent warning letters to 14 other dating sites and apps demanding they review their terms and practices to ensure they are fair and comply with consumer protection law. Together with the UK's privacy regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the CMA has published advice for online dating businesses to explain how to fully comply with both consumer and data protection laws.
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