NEW YORK -- With governments clamping down on social interactions to contain the coronavirus spread, dating sites are discouraging dates and asking users to get to know each other virtually instead.
"We don't know who needs to hear this, but now is NOT the time to go out with your date to a bar," leading match-maker OkCupid tweeted on Monday.
"FaceTime, Skype, call, text, call, message on our app.... all very romantic right now," it added.
Dating sites contacted by AFP refused to divulge their traffic since COVID-19 starting shutting down US cities this week but it appears their usage is far from slowing. Even if some academics would like them to suspend their activities entirely.
"It's time to shut down Tinder and all online dating services," tweeted US writer Matt Stoller.
"No more internet-enabled interactions among random people until the #coronavirus crisis has passed," he added.
Joking about the coronavirus has become popular on dating sites, although not necessarily effective at endearing matches to each other.
"If someone seems like they're not taking the crisis seriously or they're making fun of it for me personally that's a turnoff," said comedian and author Lane Moore.
She helped created the show "Tinder Live," in which she interacts with matches in real time, and thinks coronavirus could be an "opportunity" for people to bond.
"I'm talking to a guy right now who I met on Tinder Live and we're both talking about how this coronavirus COVID-19 stuff is impacting our lives so that can be a good way to know somebody," she said.
Moore, from New York, says many of the men she meets on Tinder want to cut the conversation short and jump straight to meeting in the flesh.
She thinks it's a good thing that now men are being forced to chat more first.
'ONE-WORD ANSWERS'
"That's something that women have always wanted because it's an opportunity to meet someone you like the first time but also try to make sure that they're safe," Moore explained.
The dating site Coffee Meets Bagel (CMB) is proposing several different ideas for remote interactions, including an online video game date.
"This is going to be important for us to think outside the box in crazy times like this," said CEO Dawoon Kang.
CMB is also organizing an online group discussion, which it has never done before.
Yale University student Ileana Valdez and five friends spent just a few hours setting up a dating site for students whose classes have been canceled and campuses are deserted.
The site, OKZoomer, a nod to the popular expression "OK boomer" which millennials use to refer to older people, picked up 6,500 users in less than a week, according to Valdez.
"Social distancing allows us to focus on conversations and building up existing and new relationships," the computer science student told AFP via email.
She feels that the big dating apps are focused on "hookups," and argues that OKZoomer sets the ground for "meaningful relationships."
For example, OKZoomer's algorithm does not prioritize proximity, unlike most major dating sites.
Other sites are emerging too, such as "Quarantine Together," whose slogan is "Get close even when you can't be close."
Moore, the comedian, isn't convinced that the new coronavirus will spark a dating revolution though.
"I can imagine that once all of this settles down the men who don't really want to be having a conversation will probably go back to one-word answers."
Agence France-Presse
ISTANBUL - Turkey on Saturday blocked all access to Wikipedia and banned television dating shows, adding to fears of a crackdown after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's victory in a referendum on enhancing his powers.
The government also dismissed almost 4,000 public officials in the latest wave of the purge under the over nine-month state of emergency that has followed last July's failed coup.
Erdogan, who has dominated Turkey since 2003 as premier and now president, narrowly won the April 16 referendum on enhancing his powers which supporters believe will lead to better government but critics say creates one man rule.
Turkey's Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) said it had implemented the ban against online encyclopedia Wikipedia.org with an administrative order.
Turkish state media said the ban was imposed because Wikipedia had failed to remove content promoting terror and accusing Turkey of cooperation with various terror groups.
There was no indication when the ban might be removed, with a formal court order expected to follow in the coming days.
- 'I stand with Turkey' -
Reacting to the ban, Wikipedia's founder Jimmy Wales wrote on Twitter: "Access to information is a fundamental human right. Turkish people, I will always stand with you to fight for this right."
A block affecting all language editions of the website in Turkey was detected from 0500 GMT after an administrative order by the Turkish authorities, according to the Turkey Blocks monitoring group, which follows internet restrictions in the country.
Residents in Istanbul were unable to access any pages of Wikipedia on Saturday morning without using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), AFP correspondents said.
The order was issued under Law 5651, passed in 2014 by parliament, which bolstered the BTK's control over the internet and was seen at the time by freedom of expression activists as an erosion of online liberties.
The incident quickly spawned its own separate Wikipedia entry -- "Wikipedia blocked in Turkey".
Turkey has become notorious over the last years for temporarily blocking access to popular sites, including Facebook and Twitter, in the wake of major events such as mass protests or terror attacks.
- 'Sanctity of the family' -
In a decree issued late Saturday evening, Turkey also banned hugely popular television dating shows, a move that been mooted for months by the government.
"In radio and television broadcasting services, such programmes in which people are introduced to find a friend.... cannot be permitted," said the text of the decree.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in March that the ban was in the pipeline, arguing the shows do not fit in with Turkish traditions and customs.
"There are some strange programmes that would scrap the institution of family, take away its nobility and sanctity," Kurtulmus said at the time.
Opponents of the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) government frequently voice fears that Turkey is sliding toward conservative Islam under Erdogan.
But AKP supporters have said that dating shows receive thousands of complaints every year and the ban is in the public interest.
- '4,000 sacked' -
Under a separate decree, 3,974 public officials were dismissed by Turkey including more than 1,000 people working with the justice ministry and over 1,000 staff employed by the army.
Those fired from the air force included over 100 pilots, it added. Almost 500 academics working for state institutions were also dismissed.
The dismissals came after Turkey on April 26 detained more than 1,000 people and suspended over 9,100 police in a vast new crackdown against alleged supporters of the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen blamed for the failed July 15 coup bid.
An already nine month state of emergency in place since the coup bid has seen a total of 47,000 people arrested and prompted fears the crackdown is being used to go after all opponents of Erdogan.
Gulen denies being behind the coup but the authorities argue the purges are needed to wipe out his "virus" from society.
The crackdown has also caused major strains with the European Union, which Turkey has sought to join for the last half century in a so far fruitless membership drive.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday the EU's top officials will seek a meeting with Erdogan at a NATO summit next month despite the mounting tensions with Ankara.
sjw/ach
source: news.abs-cbn.com
