TECH CRUNCH – July 24 – Users who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer on Tinder will no longer automatically appear on the app when they arrive in an oppressive state. This feature, called Traveler Alert, relies on users' phone network connection to determine its location. From there it will give users the choice to keep their location private. If users opt-in to make their profile public again, Tinder will hide their sexual orientation or gender identity from their profile to safeguard the information from law enforcement and others who may target them. There are 69 countries that consider same-sex acts illegal. Nine of the countries, including Iran, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia allow for prosecutors to pursue the death penalty against same-sex acts and relationships.
Category: All Gay
Gay Dating App Taimi Is Launching in Netherlands
MARKETING TRIBUNE – July 24 – The launch will take place during the Pride Amsterdam, which will start next weekend.
Grindr Wanted to Make the World Better for Queer People. Then a Chinese Company Bought It
BUZZFEED NEWS – July 18 – Over the last 18 months, Grindr has faced a federal investigation, layoffs, mismanagement, and internal turmoil. Now the app is looking for a new owner. "There was a sequence of unfortunate events that exposed cultural differences, lack of strategic clarity, and internal angst between those who were gay and straight," said one former employee. "And that's what Grindr still is today." However, Grindr said in a statement that its "significant growth" from 3.3M to ~4.5M daily active users was a sign of its "hard work and cooperative efforts of the entire team." Many of Grindr's missteps over the last 18 months can be traced back to the decisions made around its sale to Kunlun Group. Just two years earlier, Grindr had been a steady and profitable 8-year-old company hoping to shed its image as a cisgender gay men's hookup app to become an all-encompassing LGBTQ-focused media destination. But Scott Chen, the new president, chose to focus on the company's hookup past rather than a three-pronged pitch around the main app, Into, and Grindr for Equality that showed Grindr could be a one-stop shop for "everything gay."
Blued Launches LGTBQ Anti Cyber Bullying Campaign in India
Scruff Acquires Jack’d for an Undisclosed Sum
SYS-CON – July 10 – Perry Street Software, a New York-based gay mobile software developer and the parent company of Scruff, has acquired gay dating app Jack'd. Jack'd will continue to operate as a stand-alone app. Since its launch in 2010, Jack'd has grown to ~5M members worldwide. Perry Street will invest significant resources to upgrade the technology and reliability of the Jack'd app. In the coming months, Jack'd members can expect to see the removal of all programmatic advertising, enhanced controls over privacy and security, and new features such as improved messaging, redesigned Match, richer search, and the ability to include video as part of member private albums or in chat.
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10 Years of LGBT Love: What’s Really Changed?
BBC – July 5 – The London Pride parade will take place on Saturday 6 July in central London, followed by Black Pride on Sunday 7 July in Hackney. While plenty of people head to Pride to celebrate, recent news events, including the attacks on a lesbian couple on a London bus, show why Pride is still so important for the community. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots – the ceremonial beginning of the LGBT rights movement – and the 10-year anniversary of Grindr. "Online dating and hook-up apps have been an absolute win for the LGBT community," says relationship expert Dr Darcy Sterling. One recent US study suggests that two-thirds of LGBT couples meet online. Another important shift has been the demise of gay bars and LGBT spaces. In just over a decade, from 2006 to 2017, the number of bars, clubs and pubs for LGBT people in London dropped from 125 to 53. Racism within the LGBT community is another issue that is starting to be talked about more openly. Last year, Grindr launched a campaign, Kindr, encouraging its users to be nicer to each other. The legalisation of same-sex marriage in England, Wales and Scotland in 2014 – along with ~20 other countries between 2009 and 2019 – has seen tens of thousands of same-sex couples getting hitched.
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.
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
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HER, the Dating App for Queer Women, Revamps Profiles
