VICE – July 22 – For years, security and privacy researchers found serious vulnerabilities in Grindr, allowing them to deanonymize and geolocate users. This week, a Catholic Substack publication said it observed the movements of a priest through his use of the gay dating app Grindr. The publication then outed him without his consent, in a stark reminder that supposedly anonymized app location data can be used to identify and harass people. "Grindr has been, will be, and forever continues to be warned about this. They obviously don't care," said Matt Mitchell, a privacy and cybersecurity researcher. In 2019, a security researcher at Pen Test Partners, a cybersecurity firm in the UK, showed that he was able to "precisely locate and track the users of four major dating apps," including Grindr. "By supplying spoofed locations (latitude and longitude) it is possible to retrieve the distances to these profiles from multiple points, and then triangulate or trilaterate the data to return the precise location of that person," Alex Lomas, the Pen Test Partners researcher, wrote at the time.
Month: July 2021
Rachel Uchitel Sues Seeking Arrangement
TMZ – July 22 – Rachel Uchitel says Seeking Arrangement fired her from her role as spokesperson for the dating site in the wake of the Matt Gaetz scandal. She claims it only happened because the company ran scared after the congressman from Florida was linked to the dating service. Uchitel says she and Seeking Arrangement entered into a 6-month deal back in February to be the company's spokesperson. She says the deal called for $20K per month in return for de-stigmatizing the sugar daddy concept. Uchitel says she did her job just fine … and got paid the first few months. But, then came Gaetz's investigation by the feds over allegations he paid young women for sexual encounters with an underage female … linking him with Seeking Arrangement and alleging he's a member of the site.
LoxClub – a Dating App for Jews With High Standards
JEWISH CHRONICLE – July 22 – Lox Club is taglined as a dating app for "Jews with ridiculously high standards." It was created in late 2020. Lox Club membership doesn't come cheap, costing anywhere between $8 and $12 a month. Users aren't sucked into the vortex of scrolling and swiping – they can only see six to 12 profiles every several hours on the app.
by Sasha Rogelberg
See full article at Jewish Chronicle
Blued Hit With Suit Over Share Price Drops
LAW360 – BlueCity, the operator of China's largest LGBTQ dating app – Blued – has been hit with a proposed investor class action alleging that its IPO documents overstated its business and financial prospects and omitted that it was unprepared to absorb the costs of becoming publicly traded, leading to stock drops.
Q&A With Wingman Founder and CEO Tina Wilson
BUSINESSLEADER – July 21 –
Q: How is Wingman unique?
A: Wingman makes online dating a team effort, allowing friends and family to play virtual matchmaker.
Q: When you launched your business what do you wish you had known?
A: Every journey begins from a different starting point and people love to talk about the highs and not the lows. Comparing your journey to someone else is pointless. It is all a learning process.
Q: Do you as a female entrepreneur in tech sometimes face additional challenges when it comes to 'owning' a room?
A: There are many men out there who celebrate women breaking barriers (admittedly it's the minority) but I focused on finding those people and using them as mentors and advisors.
Q: What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?
A: Preparation, research and resilience are key. All feedback, good and bad, will help you.
Q: How do you aim to grow Wingman in the future?
A: Wingman will continue to grow in the UK with an exciting new feature list being rolled out. Wingman will launch in different countries over the next 12 months.
Bumble, Match Group, and the State of Online Dating
THE MOTLEY FOOL – July 20 – In this episode of Industry Focus: Consumer Goods, join Motley Fool analysts Asit Sharma and Emily Flippen as they take a look at the online dating industry, including dating trends coming out of the coronavirus pandemic as well as two of the biggest competitors: Match Group and Bumble.
Google Searches for ‘Dating’ Have Reached a 5-Year High
NPR – July 20 – Google tweeted last week that search interest in dating had reached a 5-year high in the U.S. "How to date" was the most searched in Washington, D.C., last week, Google says. According to Dana Balch, a spokesperson for Tinder, the app has seen some of its highest swiping days this year. Searches for "top dating apps 2021" boomed over the past month, jumping 3,400%. According to App Annie, Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge are all currently in the top 50 grossing apps on iPhones.
by Josie Fischels
See full article at NPR
See the top news on Tinder
See the top news on Bumble
See the top news on Hinge
Bumble Gets ‘I’m Vaccinated’ Badge in India
New Co-CEOs at ParshipMeet Group
OPW – July 20 – After 7 years, Tim Schiffers, the incumbent CEO, is handing over the baton to Marc Schachtel and Geoff Cook. Marc Schachtel (formerly COO) and Geoff Cook (Founder/CEO, The Meet Group) are now co-CEOs of ParshipMeet Group. Henning Rönneberg is CFO.
Tim successfully completed the merger of Parship Group with The Meet Group and is moving on to new challenges outside the organization.
Marc will lead the entire matchmaking business as CEO of Parship Group: Parship, ElitePartner, eharmony, LOVOO. See Marc's Linkedin post.
Geoff will continue to be responsible for the Social Dating & Entertainment division: MeetMe, Skout, Tagged, GROWLr and the live video streaming solution vPaaS, which powers the video solution of some of the largest dating and social apps in the world. See Geoff's Linkedin post.
New Study: People of Color Face Barriers on Mobile Dating Apps
