MARKETWATCH – July 2 – Tinder introduced a dating policy for its employees this year that doesn't prohibit relationships between employees and their direct higher-ups. "We're a company focused on helping people make connections," said a Tinder spokeswoman. "We don't prohibit workplace dating, but there are restrictions when the relationship is between a manager and subordinate."
Month: July 2019
Grindr Says It Acted Aggressively in the Case of a Client Who Was Stalked by an Ex
NEW YORK TIMES – July 2 – In Mr. Herrick's case, Grindr worked closely with law enforcement and took extensive steps to delete and ban fraudulent accounts, including investigating hundreds of email addresses, profile names and accounts; conducting voluntary daily searches; and searching account profile content for any potential reference to the physical addresses, phone numbers and other relevant information identified by Mr. Herrick and/or law enforcement.
IDEA’s Project 0d8 Helps Dating Services Improve
OPW – July 1 – Project 0d8 is an IDEA (Internet Dating Excellence Association) project. We're opening up access to a team of amazing top tier professors in the fields of Behavioral Science and Evolutionary Psychology to help you improve your game. Please see 0d8.com for more information. They want the ability to run surveys, do randomized control tests and look at aggregate data to test hypotheses that can help you improve your dating apps and understand user behavior more profoundly. Email mark@idea.gp if you'd like to help further the science behind Internet dating.
The Meet Group Joins the Online Dating Association
BUSINESS WIRE – July 1 – The Meet Group, a leading provider of interactive livestreaming solutions, has joined the Online Dating Association (ODA), an international nonprofit organization dedicated to safety and standardizing best practices in the online connection space. "The ODA is a pioneer in standardizing best practices in online dating and we are proud to be joining forces with their team," said Geoff Cook, CEO of The Meet Group. The Meet Group is also an active member of the Family Online Safety Institute.
Bumble Now Lets Users Call Their Matches Without Exchanging Numbers
TECH CRUNCH – June 29 – The feature is double opt-in, meaning users won't get a video call from some rando the second that they match with them. Instead, users will see an icon inside their chat that they can tap on to enable the features that move beyond text. Bumble parent company MagicLab plans to bring voice and video calls to its other dating apps (Badoo, Chappy, Lumen) as well.
Owner of Gay Dating App Jack’d to Pay Out for Leaving Nudes and Private Photos Exposed
GIZMODO – June 29 – Jack'd parent company, Online Buddies, did not properly secure photos uploaded using Amazon Web Services Simple Storage Service (S3), leaving the images and other data vulnerable. New York Attorney General Letitia James said that the company knew of the issue and "didn't do anything about it for a full year." Jack'd is used by ~6M men worldwide. Investigators estimated that of the app's ~7K active New York users on Jack'd between Feb 2018 and Feb 2019, ~1,900 users could have uploaded nude images. Online Buddies will pay $240K to New York as part of the settlement, which also requires a significant overhaul of its security measures. "We apologize to our users for this flaw," said a spokesperson for Online Buddies. "We worked closely with, and cooperated fully with, the New York Attorney General's office in their investigation of this matter."
SAFE App Raised $3.5M to Start Showing Verified STD Results on Dating Sites
GRITDAILY – June 28 – The SAFE app, calling themselves 'the safe sex app,' just raised $3.5M from investors to partner with HUD and add a feature that will allow users to post their verified STD results. The badge is set to launch of HUD profiles on June 28th, kicking off NYC's Pride weekend. SAFE received funding from Flight Ventures, Harry Schwefel (co-CIO of Point 72), Caivis Investments (led by John Scully, former Apple / Pepsi CEO), Startup Health Ventures, and the Mayo Clinic. HUD is one of the top hook-up sites around the world.
by Yelena Mandenberg
See full article at Grit Daily
This post also appears on InternetDatingInvestments.com
