BBC.CO.UK - July 29 - ~10,000 online dating profiles has been sold to the BBC's Panorama programme, many of which were fake. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has said it will investigate the sale. The profile seller Edgars Apalais has denied that people did not give consent for their contact details to be shared. Some profiles included photographs of celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Michael Caine and the TV chef Rick Stein. Edgars Apalais agreed to an interview and BBC secretly recorded the conversation.
You can watch Panorama - Tainted Love: The Dark Side of Online Dating Monday 29 July at 20:30 BST on BBC1 and then on the BBC iPlayer in the UK.
Seeds of doubt about the iDating industry are being sewn in the UK. What is the reality of the service that you provide to users? What will your company do to stand out as an integrity player?
Posted by: Mark Brooks | Jul 30, 2013 at 05:02 AM
Can 'Global Personals' come back from all this?! I think the biggest factor in online dating is TRUST.
Posted by: James Anderson | Jul 30, 2013 at 06:26 AM
Yes, they can, because Global Personals UK is not a very well known brand at the consumer level. They have thousands of brands, all of which are 2nd or 3rd tier brands. So they don't have so much of a reputation concern. The entire episode doesn't inspire partner confidence however.
(Full Disclosure: Global Personals UK / White Label Dating are a prior client of Courtland Brooks)
Posted by: Mark Brooks | Jul 31, 2013 at 09:46 AM