ASSOCIATED PRESS – Norway's data privacy watchdog fined gay dating app Grindr $7.16M for sending sensitive personal data to hundreds of potential advertising partners without users' consent. In 2020, Norway's Consumer Council filed a complaint against Grindr for disclosing information about its users, including GPS locations, IP addresses, ages, gender and their use of the app, to several third parties for marketing purposes. That allowed users to be identified and third parties to potentially share personal information further.
Category: All UK & Europe
Frolo Dating Helps Connect Single Parents
MYLONDON – Zoe Desmond wanted to connect with other single parents to arrange play dates and days out, and to ask for advice and support. But she was disappointed to find there wasn't really a solid online community where she could meet other single parents in her area. The solution was Frolo, an app Zoe created which allows single parents to connect with one another both digitally and in the real world through chats, meetups and access to support and guidance, and two years later Frolo is set to extend into dating. Frolo Community now has ~30K registered users in the UK and Ireland. Frolo Dating, a new subsection of the app, is set to launch in January, for single parents looking for love.
Digital Rights Nonprofit Alleges Grindr Violated User Privacy Laws
JURIST.ORG – The European Center for Digital Rights (Noyb) has filed a complaint against Grindr, alleging that the dating app violated the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). New users must confirm their identity. Grindr requires these users "to hold up a piece of paper with their email address, as well as their passport – all while balancing their phone to take a selfie." Noyb asserts that this additional requirement "is violation of the GDPR." Last year Grindr faced similar allegations when the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) accused Grindr of violating the GDPR after an NCC research report found that Grindr shared location and device information with other companies.
by Heidi Johnson
See full article at Jurist.org
MuddyMatches, a Dating Site That Matches Country Folk
DAILYMAIL.CO.UK – Muddy Matches is full of rugged types who fix tractors and keep chickens. Apparently, membership has rocketed since the pandemic began. Co-founder Lucy Grand, 42, says it's because people reconnected with the outdoors over lockdown – then started to move out of the towns and cities. Muddy Matches had a humble start. In the pub one night, Lucy and her sister Emma, who grew up on a farm, wondered how to meet someone given that they already knew everyone in their village.
by Lucy Cavendish
See full article at DailyMail
Hungarian Dating Site Enters Foreign Markets
HUNGARY TODAY – Dating Central Europe Zrt. (DACE), the parent company of top Hungarian dating app Randivonal, and investor Russmedia Equity Partners, are expanding abroad with the acquisition of Mötesplatsen, a premium dating site based in Sweden and Norway. The company aims to create a European network, and an important step in this direction is to buy platforms like the current one in the future. By operating the Hungarian Randivonal and Mötesplatsen in the European dating market, the DACE will now be present in six countries, with $7.8M in consolidated revenue.
by Júlia Tar
See full article at Hungary Today
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Tinder Is Rolling out Videos in Profiles to European Users
Denmark Wants to Ban Life Sentence Prisoners From Online Dating
THE LOCAL – Convicted criminals serving life sentences should be restricted from coming into contact with the outside world by using social media to discuss their crimes publicly, said Denmark's Ministry of Justice. That would effectively ban them from activities such as featuring on podcasts or writing about their crimes on social media. Current rules enable prison inmates serving life to write to, call and receive visits from people with whom they have established contact during their sentences. The bill, which would need parliamentary backing to become law, could come into effect on January 1st 2022.
Ireland’s Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival Is Headed to Spain
IRISH CENTRAL – The world-famous Lisdoonvarna matchmaking festival is heading abroad for the first time to Spain. The long-running festival, which is Europe's biggest singles event, is being held in a small coastal town of Cabo Roig in the Alicante region between the 19th and 26th of October.
Apple Removes Hornet Gay Dating App From Turkish Store
SPIEGEL.DE – Aug 10 – In Turkey, digital LGBTQ + offers are repeatedly blocked. Now Hornet has disappeared from the App Store. About a year ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused LGBTQ + activists of undermining "our national and spiritual values" and "poisoning" young people. The verbal attack was not an isolated incident. Government politicians in Turkey repeatedly attract attention with homophobic and transphobic statements. Apple has removed Hornet from the Turkish app store. The reason for this is a Turkish court ruling from last year. Hornet was blocked on August 6, 2020, citing Law 5651. Originally, the law was supposed to protect the Turkish public from cybercrime. However, it grants the government extensive monitoring and blocking rights on the Internet. Hornet joins a number of similar cases. The gabile.com platform was also blocked last year. The site was created in Turkey in 1999 and is the oldest dating and exchange platform for the LGBTQ + community in the country. Grindr has also been unavailable in Turkey since 2013.
Online Dating Behind Surge in Over-65s Getting Remarried
TELEGRAPH.CO.UK – Aug 10 – The average age of women who tied the knot in England and Wales in 2008 was 33.8 and 36.5 for men, which rose to 35.8 and 38.1 in 2018, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is partly due to the surge of so-called "silver splitters", those who divorce then remarry in later life. The number of brides and grooms aged 65 and over has increased more than any other age bracket in the past decade. Between 2004 and 2014, there was a rise of 46% from 7,468 to 10,937. The numbers have been steadily rising from 2009 onwards. Access to dating websites and financial independence are among the reasons suggested for this surge in later life marriage. Fewer young people getting married, the overall number of marriages in England and Wales is currently at its lowest level since 2009.