Online Personals Watch: News on the Online Dating Industry and Business

How Do the Best Dating Algorithms Work?

MASHABLE - Tinder: The Tinder algorithm used to be based on the Elo rating system, which was originally designed to rank chess players. The "Elo score" gauges how other profiles interacted with yours. It logged your swipes. Elo is no longer used. Now, the most important thing a user can do is...use the app. The more data Tinder has on you, the more Tinder knows your preferences and the algorithm is based on how your profile is Liked or Noped.

Hinge: The dating app "designed to be deleted" doesn't have swiping. Hinge uses the Gale-Shapley algorithm. This Nobel-prize winning algorithm was created to find optimal pairs in "trades" that money can't buy - like organ donations. Say there are 10 women and 10 men. How do they get paired up? Well, tell one group (either the men or women) to pick their first choice, and if they get rejected they move on to their second choice. Continue until none of the people left want to get matched anymore. Tell the app when you've met a match in person and Hinge understands who you're interested in.

OkCupid: OkCupid has 4k questions. There's 60 sexual orientation and gender options. OkCupid calculates a match percentage. If another user has similar search preferences and responses to questions as you, and is looking for the same things relationship-wise, you'll have a high match percentage.

Bumble: Bumble is similar to Tinder in that it uses a swipe model. Bumble declined to comment about its search algorithm.

Grindr: Grindr only uses algorithms for security purposes, like detecting spam accounts. There's no recommendation algorithm to speak of on Grindr today.

by Anna Iovine
See full article at Mashable

Mark Brooks: Frankly, I'm surprised at the lack of substance here. Our job is to bring clarity to a complex problem. Who to date? Who to marry? Who to raise a family with? (...and perhaps guide people further on how not to screw it up). This is not an unsolvable problem, but it is highly nuanced. Culture, religion, values, and lifestyle preferences compound the problem. Also, what people say they want and what they are willing to accept can be quite different. i.e. stated preferences vs revealed preferences. Observing people's behaviors and getting feedback after each date is key. Also, we really need to know when we have been successful. When we have clear visibility on this, at scale, then AI becomes useful for helping us solve for long-term compatibility.

See the top news on Tinder                         See the top news on OkCupid
See the top news on Bumble                       See the top news on Grindr
See the top news on Hinge

Gay Dating Apps Join Health Experts to Fight Hate Speech and Racism

PRESS RELEASE - Building Healthy Online Communities, a consortium of HIV and STD prevention organizations, has released a report with the results of its "NiceAF" campaign's research to combat online hate speech and racism. The report contains recommendations for apps and sites to take, based on input from ~5.5K users. BHOC worked with Adam4Adam, Daddyhunt, dudesnude, Grindr, GROWLr, Jack'd, Manhunt, SCRUFF, and POZ Personals to recruit its users to share their ideas. BHOC asked users to suggest and then rate a number of steps that apps should take to reduce discrimination and hate speech. The full report is available at NiceAF.org.

FTC Warns of Extortionists Targeting LGBTQ+ Community on Dating Apps

BLEEPING COMPUTER - The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns of scammers targeting the LGBTQ+ community via apps such as Grindr and Feeld. Fraudsters pose as potential romantic partners on LGBTQ+ dating apps, sending explicit photos and asking their targets to reciprocate. Victims are blackmailed to pay a ransom, usually in gift cards, under the threat of leaking the imagery. To make threats more credible scammers will state the names of exactly who they plan to contact (found online by using a phone number or social media profile) if victims don't pay up. The FTC advises LGBTQ+ dating apps users to avoid sharing explicit photos. Online dating platforms including Grindr and Feeld have also warned their users.

This warning comes after a similar one issued by the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) who has seen a massive increase in sextortion complaints since January 2021, leading to financial losses of over $8 million until the end of July. It received 16k+ sextortion complaints thru July 31, almost half of them from victims age 20-39. Victims should contact law enforcement, and file a complaint with the FBI IC3 immediately at www.ic3.gov.

by Sergiu Gatlan
See full article at Bleeping Computer

New Privacy Features for Grindr Users

GRINDR BLOG - Gay dating app Grindr has introduced two new privacy features. 1. Access and Portability. All Grindr users now have automated access to the information stored by Grindr about them, and the information is portable, meaning Grindr will email users a copy of their information. 2. Ad Targeting Opt-Out, which allows users to opt out of LGBTQ+ ads outside their use of the Grindr app.

by Shane Wiley
See full article at Grindr Blog

See the top news on Grindr

Banned and Blocked: LGBT+ Websites Censored From Russia to Indonesia

THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION - Sep 1 - The Russian LGBT Network has been able to challenge shutdowns in court. 32 different LGBT+ websites were blocked at least once on Russian internet providers between mid-2016 and mid-2020. Same-sex relations in Russia are legal, but attitudes about sexuality and gender identity remain conservative. In a 2020 referendum, voters backed an amendment to the constitution to allow marriage only between a man and a woman, closing the door on same-sex weddings.

Website bans violate Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), of which Indonesia, Iran and Russia are signatories. The multilateral treaty says "everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression ... (including) freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers".

Iran blocked the highest number of website addresses linked to LGBT+ content. 75 unique LGBTIQ URLs were detected as blocked in Iran, followed by the UAE with 51 unique LGBTIQ URLs were found to be blocked. Five years ago, Indonesia's government said it would move to ban LGBT+ sites, and at least 38 LGBT+ websites are currently blocked. Grindr is banned in Indonesia, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE.

by Hugo Greenhalgh
See full article at Thomson Reuters Foundation News

'Vaccinated' Badges Pop up on All Sorts of Apps

WALL STREET JOURNAL - Aug 26 - More apps are adding features that let people display their Covid-19 vaccination status and search for other users and businesses that favor vaccines. Grindr said that starting in September, it will let users add their vaccination status to their profiles and filter their searches to find other vaccinated people. Hinge and Tinder both allow users to share their vaccination status on their profiles. The spread of "vaccinated" badges on user profiles might influence others to get vaccinated, according to digital experience designers, who call the phenomenon "social proof."

by Ann-Marie Alcántara
See full article at Wall Street Journal

See the top news on Grindr

Grindr Sued for Failing to Keep Kids off Site

PATCH.COM - Aug 17 - A Grindr user is suing the app for failing to restrict his access as a minor and allowing him to meet the Brooklyn gynecologist who allegedly abused him sexually, court records show. John Doe filed suit Monday in Brooklyn's Federal Court against Grindr and Dr. Aaron Weinreb, who was arrested in 2019 on charges he'd had sex with a 14-year-old boy. The suit does not seek to hold Grindr liable for Weinreb's access to the app, but John Doe's, arguing its easily-circumnavigated age restrictions don't do enough to protect children from predators.

by Kathleen Culliton
See full article at Patch.com

See the top news on Grindr

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.

by Anna-Sophie Schneider
See full article at Speigel.de

See the top news on Hornet

Podcast: How Grindr Poses Exploitation Risk to Minors

NPR - Aug 3 - Grindr is supposed to be for men seeking men. But many underage boys are using it to hook up with adults, and that can put them at risk of exploitation and trafficking. A 2018 Northwestern University study found more than half of sexually active gay and bisexual adolescent boys found sexual partners on Grindr and other apps. Grindr was by far the most popular.

by Jenifer McKim
See full article at NPR

See the top news on Grindr

Niche Dating Apps Are the Next Big Thing

WALL STREET JOURNAL - Aug 2 - The options range from apps for those committed to sobriety (Loosid) and people on the autism spectrum (Hiki), to matchmakers for fitness buffs (TeamUp), dog lovers (Dig), gamers (Kippo), vegetarians (Veggly) and amateur astrologists (Stars Align, NUiT and the Pattern). "S'More" helps users pair up by shifting the focus from physical appearances to mutual goals and interests. When matches first connect, they see only blurred versions of each other's profile photos, along with bios, hobbies and answers to prompts like "What are your top 3 qualities in a match?" As they exchange messages, their photos gradually un-blur. Christian Mingle was launched in 2001, while Grindr made its debut in 2009 and Tastebuds, which matches people based on their taste in music, showed up in 2010.

10 oddly specific, real dating sites

• Bristlr: For bearded men and women who love beards
• Zombie Passions: For those hung up on the "undead"
• Sea Captain Date: For seafarers seeking their first mates
• Clown Dating: "Everyone loves a clown"
• Mullet Passions: For anyone who likes a good party in the back
• Paranormal Dating: For those with metaphysical fixations
• Equestrian Cupid: Because horse gals and lads deserve love, too
• Sizzlr: For lovers of all things bacon
• Twindog: To help your furry friend find a canine best friend
• Ship: If you want your friends to do your swiping for you

by Rachel Wolfe
See full article at Wall Street Journal

Grindr Has Been Warned for Years About Its Privacy Issues

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.

by Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
See full article at Vice

See the top news on Grindr

Grindr Poses Exploitation Risk to Minors

GBH NEWS - July 12 - Since 2015, more than 100 men across the United States - including police officers, priests and teachers - have faced charges related to sexually assaulting minors or attempting sexual activity with youth they met on Grindr, according to a GBH News search of public records. More than half of sexually active gay and bisexual boys between the ages of 14 and 17 find sexual partners on Grindr and other similar apps, according to a 2018 study by Northwestern University researchers. Grindr is by far the most popular dating app among teens, the research shows. A growing number of advocates and public officials are calling for reforms to Section 230 to hold companies more accountable for dangers, including their role in sex trafficking. Cheyenne Ehrlich, owner of a company called SaferKid that works to protect children from dangers on the Internet, says lawmakers either have to amend Section 230 or require companies to impose age verification. Ehrlich has Grindr on his top list of most dangerous apps for children because of its adult content.

by Jenifer B. McKim, Phillip Martin & Gabriela Lopez
See full article at GBH News

See the top news on Grindr

It's 2021, Why Are Dating App Algorithms Still so Bad?

WIRED - July 1 - There's been a post-pandemic boom in app downloads, but success rates remain depressingly low. Lockdown was boom time for dating apps. Hinge had a 63% spike in downloads since 2019 and tripled revenue in 2020. May 2021 saw 6.5M+ download Tinder. Tinder and Grindr rank in the top 10 of apps most likely to leave users feeling sad. Most dating apps rely on a combination of stated preferences and collaborative filtering i.e. patterns in who users have said yes or no to. A 2016 study of match rates on Tinder (Queen Mary University) revealed low rates of reciprocal interest: the match rate was 10.5% for women and 0.6% for men. "Machines can only work with what you give them," says Samantha Joel of Western University in Canada, who researches romantic decisions. These complex preferences aren't transparent: people might be embarrassed by something they're drawn to, or even entirely unaware that the preference is there, even as it shapes their behaviour. Compatibility and desirability can be poles apart. We don't always know what we like until it's put in front of us.

by Emma Hughes
See full article at Wired

Mark Brooks: The science of compatibility profiling and matchmaking is entirely, still, a virgin science. Until we open up our databases to academics and data scientists to do proper experimentation, we will continue to clutch at straws when it comes to really provide more than marginal improvements to long term matchmaking. However, there's a LOT of value in just getting showstopper questions out of the way right upfront. i.e. sexuality preferences, marriage status, marriage-minded?, want kids?, got kids? etc.

Apple's New Policy Doesn't Mean It's Banning Grindr

THE GUARDIAN - June 15 - Apple's announcement last week that it was cracking down on some "hookup apps" sparked widespread confusion and concern that the company planned to remove dating apps - particularly Grindr and Scruff - from its app store. A spokesman from Apple said dating apps such as Grindr and Scruff would not be rejected based on the new guidelines. The guidelines ban "overtly sexual or pornographic material" including "'hookup' apps that may include pornography or be used to facilitate prostitution". The company defines this as "explicit descriptions or displays of sexual organs or activities intended to stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings". Apple did not name any apps that would be affected.

by Kari Paul
See full article at The Guardian

See the top news on Grindr
See the top news on Scruff

Grindr Embraces the Return of Live Events for Pride Month

ADWEEK - June 11 - Grindr is supporting 10 iconic LGBTQ+ venues across the US. The pandemic wiped out most Pride Month in-person events in 2020. Grindr is welcoming the return toward normalcy for Pride Month 2021 with its "Grindr Pride: The Comeback" campaign.

by David Cohen
See full article at Adweek

See the top news on Grindr