Will Facebook Dating swipe online lovebirds out of digital nest?

PARIS — All's fair in electronic love and dating - or is it? The battle for hearts and minds of couples seeking their perfect match online has taken a new turn.

If you're a flirty mobile warrior Tindering on the brink or Bumbling from one swipe to the next be aware there's another game in town as Facebook muscles in to place its own tanks on the lawn.

As online dating becomes the virtual norm -- some experts suggest half of British couples will meet that way come the end of the decade -- Facebook's gradual arrival on the dating scene -- launched progressively in the Americas and Southeast Asia -- looks set to shake up the market.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said last month he saw the company as moving towards the forefront of online dating having promised at the outset a service "for building real long-term relationships -- not just hook-ups." 

But rivals are not quaking in their boots just yet, despite the size of the social media giant's global footprint with more than 2 billion monthly active users some of whose data it now could leverage for romantic purposes. 

"Facebook (Dating) has been going in certain countries for more than a year now and, for the moment, we've seen nothing change in terms of market share," said Didier Rappaport, founder and managing director of popular French dating app Happn -- motto, 'crushes don't fall from the sky'.

Contacted by AFP, Facebook was not able to say exactly when it would launch its dating variant in Europe. Early 2020 had been the mooted target but on the eve of Valentine's Day, this Friday, its rivals were still waiting with bated breath to see what effect such a storied -- and free -- competitor may have.

"From social networks to dating sites is just a step which does not require enormous technological investment," observed Julien Pillot, a researcher and lecturer at leading French business school Inseec. 

Pillot said Facebook has "copied everything which worked well on other applications and added two or three functionalities. What interests them is getting users to link in the sharing of private content."

Rappaport said a fundamental issue is whether social networks are a good fit for dating.

"Are social networks and meeting up a match? In my view, no, as what marks out a social network is the sharing of information -- whereas dating moves into the intimate sphere," he said.

A December opinion poll of 21,000 Americans by Piplsay showed only 23 percent of responders would happily let Facebook securely store their personal data on its dating platform.

Clementine Lalande, co-founder of French dating app Once, which only allows a user to select one profile a day, notes that "the big problem with generalist applications is you end up with a mass of users who don't share the same interest communities."

TINDER SURE OF ITS CHARMS 

If Facebook's challengers are not yet professing too much concern at the Californian colossus's arrival that is because they are too busy being wary of Match Group, the US internet firm which has split off from parent and controlling shareholder IAC and which owns dating brands such as Hinge, OKCupid, Match.com, Meetic and, not least, Tinder.

Tinder ranked top for user monetization in a study across a range of non-game apps last year by specialist data provider AppAnnie, raking in $1.2 billion across the year in a global marked valued at some $2.2 billion.

Jean-Baptiste Bourgeois and Kevin Pasquier, strategic planners with We Are Social digital agency, told AFP that "Tinder has redefined the whole user dating path."

In its basic form, "it is a fairly cunning mechanism which after several swipes limits the user, frustrates him and generates fear of missing a rare pearl" who might be out there.

A way of capturing that pearl or at least reduce one's chances of missing out is to take out a subscription offering wider functionality.

The model has found favor with most rivals as they seek to portray themselves as being above the superficiality of simply chasing an image.

Match Group head Amanda W. Ginsberg says her firm "will not underestimate" Facebook's potential to corner the market, not least given the numbers already on its platform and ease of access. 

"But for now we don't see any consequence for any of our brands."

A Tinder spokesman told AFP meanwhile it sees its rivals as general apps popular with young web surfers such as Tik Tok, Snapchat, Netflix and YouTube rather than dedicated dating apps.

Agence France-Presse 

China's Beijing Kunlun to revisit Grindr IPO

HONG KONG/NEW YORK - Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd said on Monday it would revive plans for an initial public offering (IPO) of popular gay dating app Grindr Inc, after a U.S. national security panel dropped its opposition to the plan.

Kunlun said in May it had agreed to a request by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to sell Grindr, setting a June 2020 deadline to do so and putting preparations for an IPO of Grindr on hold.

A source familiar with the matter said on Monday that Kunlun's efforts to sell Grindr outright were continuing even as the IPO preparations were relaunched.

A Grindr spokeswoman declined to share more information about the IPO plans. Kunlun did not respond to requests for comment. The U.S Treasury Department, which chairs CFIUS, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CFIUS has not disclosed its concerns about Kunlun's ownership of Grindr. However, the United States has been increasingly scrutinizing app developers over the safety of personal data they handle, especially if some of it involves U.S. military or intelligence personnel.

Reuters reported in May that Kunlun had given some Beijing-based engineers access to the personal information of millions of Americans, including private messages and HIV status.

Kunlun said in May it would shut down Grindr’s China operations and would not send any sensitive user data to China, in an effort to address concerns over data privacy.

Grindr will be listed on a stock exchange outside China, with the timing of the move to be decided according to overseas capital market conditions, Kunlun said in a filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange on Monday.

Kunlun is one of China's largest mobile gaming companies. It acquired a majority stake in Grindr in 2016 for $93 million and bought out the remainder of the company in 2018. It did so without submitting the transactions for CFIUS review.

Kunlun's control of Grindr has fueled concerns among privacy advocates in the United States. Democratic U.S. Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Grindr last year demanding answers about how the app would protect users’ privacy under its Chinese owner.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Russia requires Tinder to share users' data with security services

MOSCOW -- Popular dating app Tinder is now required to share users' data with Russian security services after being placed on an official register, the country's telecoms watchdog said Monday.

Tinder has over 50 million users swiping right to select dating profiles and find a match. It is part of the US-based Match Group of social apps whose parent firm is InterActiveCorp. 

The Roskomnadzor watchdog said that Tinder was added to its register "after it presented the necessary information".

Roskomnadzor -- together with Russia's law enforcement authorities and security agencies including the feared FSB, the successor to the KGB -- keeps a register of so-called "organizers of information distribution". 

The register lists 175 sites and services including Russia's biggest bank Sberbank and the country's popular social media network VK.

By law, the companies on the register must store user data in Russia for 6 months -- including the content of messages exchanged -- and hand over any of the information to law enforcement authorities if requested to do so.

If the company refuses to comply, the authorities can act to block sites, as was the case last year with the embattled Telegram messaging app, created by maverick Russian Internet guru Pavel Durov.

In a statement, a Tinder spokesperson said the company had "received a request to register with the Russian authorities, and, as of now, we have registered to be compliant".

"However, this registration in no way shares any user or personal data with any Russian regulatory bodies and we have not handed over any data to their government," the spokesperson added.

Some Russian internet users made fun of the move, warning that FSB officers will now have access to any steamy correspondence or unrequited pickup attempts.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Online daters aim 'out of their league,' study says

Most people who use online dating websites seek partners who are out of their league, said a study Wednesday based on heterosexuals in four big U.S. cities.

"Both men and women pursued partners about 25 percent more 'desirable' than themselves," said the report in the journal Science Advances.

Hardly anyone reached out to people who ranked significantly lower than themselves.

People's desirability was determined using a ranking algorithm based on how many messages they received from other popular users on a dating site in New York, Seattle, Boston and Chicago.

"If you are contacted by people who are themselves desirable, then you are presumably more desirable yourself," said the study.

Using this PageRank algorithm, which is employed by web search engines, researchers could establish a person's "league," which they scientifically coined "hierarchies of desirability."

For some at the pinnacle of the dating game, the flurry of messages from would-be suitors was dizzying.

"The most popular individual in our four cities, a 30-year-old woman living in New York, received 1,504 messages during the period of observation, equivalent to one message every 30 min, day and night, for the entire month," said the study.

While researchers did not reveal the end to this lady's love story, they did find that the majority of daters on the site tended to reach out to people who were ranked higher than themselves.

They also tended to send lengthier messages to people deemed higher on the desirability ladder.

In most cases, these long-shots fell short.

When there is a big gap in desirability between online daters, "there is a pronounced drop in the probability of reply," said the report.

And only in Seattle were there signs that long letters were more successful than short messages at getting a potential mate to respond.

People have probably been pining for unattainable love interests since the dawn of time.

But taking a scientific look at the phenomenon gives cause for hope, according to lead author Elizabeth Bruch, a sociologist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

"I think a common complaint when people use online dating websites is they feel like they never get any replies," she said.

"This can be dispiriting. But even though the response rate is low, our analysis shows that 21 percent of people who engage in this aspirational behavior do get replies from a mate who is out of their league, so perseverance pays off."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Ashley Madison boss steps down after data breach

OTTAWA, Canada - The chief executive of dating-for-adulterers website Ashley Madison stepped down on Friday after hackers leaked its membership list online.

Parent company Avid Life Media, which operates the infidelity network, said it and CEO Noel Biderman were in "mutual agreement" about the split.

"This change is in the best interest of the company and allows us to continue to provide support to our members and dedicated employees," Avid Life Media said.

The firm, meanwhile, is "adjusting to the attack on our business and members' privacy by criminals," the company added, vowing uninterrupted member access to its website.

Other senior managers will step in to fill the gap left by Biderman's departure until a new boss is appointed, the firm said.

A hacker group calling itself the "Impact Team" last week released emails and user account information of members stolen from the company's servers, as well as corporate emails and sensitive computer source code.

The gang claimed it wanted to bring attention to the fact that Ashley Madison was charging clients a fee to delete their personal information but was in fact archiving it.

Canadian police have said two possible suicides, including one by a Texas police officer, may be linked to the leak of the website's 32 million members' personal data.

The breach has also stirred concern the potential for blackmail. Privacy watchdogs in Canada and Australia are jointly investigating the leak.

Police in Toronto, where Avid Life Media is based, along with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, US Homeland Security, the Pentagon and the American FBI are also probing the most talked-about hack of the year.

Calling it "one of the largest data breaches in the world," Toronto police Staff Superintendent Bryce Evans told a press conference last Monday it "will continue to have a longterm social and economic impact."

He warned of "spin offs of crimes and further victimization" including extortion attempts.

Although there has been no measurable uptick in business for divorce lawyers, Internet reputation and public relations consultants said their phones have been ringing off the hook from cheaters in crisis seeking help.

Celebrity casualties include Josh Duggar, the 27-year-old star of a Christian family reality TV show who has blown nearly $1,000 on two Ashley Madison accounts since February 2013.

However, an analysis of the leaked data by news site Gizmodo showed little if any activity from the purported 5.5 million female members of Ashley Madison, who were online with an estimated 31 million male subscribers.

The data, which was released on the "dark web" and is not easily accessible to most Internet users, suggests the vast majority of profiles of women on Ashley Madison were fake, or created by automated "bots."

Gizmodo traced many of the IP addresses for females back to Ashley Madison itself. The most popular female last name on the site also matches the name of a former employee.

Avid Life Media has declined to comment on the report.

But if true, the data would suggest the website facilitated very few extramarital affairs.

Avid Life Media is offering a Can$500,000 ($375,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the hackers.

In turn it is being sued by a disabled Canadian widower who says he joined Ashley Madison "in search of companionship" after losing his wife of 30 years to breast cancer.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Cheating website relieved it is not being judged after hack

TORONTO - Cheating spouses website AshleyMadison.com, facing hackers' threats to leak clients' nude photos and sexual fantasies, said it is heartened by some initial public response that sees the site as a victim.

The website's Canadian parent, Avid Life Media, confirmed a breach of its systems that has put the real names, credit card information and other details of as many as 37 million customers at risk. Avid Life said it has since secured the sites and closed unauthorized access points.

The dating website company has hired UK cybersecurity firm Sycura to investigate the breach, first reported by the KrebsonSecurity blog, and is working with police to trace those behind the attack, spokesman Paul Keable said.

AshleyMadison.com, which uses the slogan "Life is short. Have an affair," has been planning to raise up to $200 million through an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.

A group calling itself Impact Team said it had taken over Avid Media systems, including customer databases, source code, financial records and emails, according to a screen grab shown on the KrebsOnSecurity blog.

"Shutting down AM (Ashley Madison) and EM (Established Men) will cost you, but non-compliance will cost you more," the hackers said. Established Men, widely described as a "sugar daddy site," is another Avid Media property.

The hackers leaked snippets of the compromised data online and warned that they would release customers' real names, profiles, nude photos, credit card details and "secret sexual fantasies" unless AshleyMadison and EstablishedMen.com are taken down, Krebs said.

CUSTOMER PRIVACY CRUCIAL

"There's a very strong narrative that criminal activity, vigilantism, is not the way forward, because who gets to be the judge and jury?" Keable said at Avid Life's midtown Toronto offices, citing articles in what he called "major media outlets."

The hackers said that a "paid delete" function will not remove all information about a member's profile and communications.

Avid Life said that claim is untrue and it would offer the function free of charge following the breach. The dating website owner has about 160 employees, mostly in Toronto but also in Cyprus, Brazil, Japan and elsewhere.

Keable said it was too early to estimate the damage to the company's business model or IPO plans from the breach.

But one Canadian investment banker, who asked not to be named, said the breach could put those plans at risk.

"There are a lot of risqué websites that are looking to go public, the problem here is that the way Ashley Madison works is it puts customer privacy as tantamount, the fact that you have a hacking scandal at least temporarily puts the kibosh on any IPO plans for them," the banker said.

In an interview with KrebsOnSecurity, Avid Life Chief Executive Noel Biderman was cited as saying the company suspected someone who had access to internal networks as being behind the breach.

"It was definitely a person here that was not an employee but certainly had touched our technical services," he said.

Unauthorized posts and images on the website detailing the hacker's demands have since been removed.

"We apologize for this unprovoked and criminal intrusion into our customers' information," Avid Life said.

The breach comes about two months after dating site Adult FriendFinder was compromised. That site has an estimated 64 million members.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com