Age verification: A Decade of Coverage
95 entries in this thread.
Topic
Dating Apps
Recent reporting, brand coverage, ongoing story threads, and source-backed context from SEXTECHGUIDE.
Image-based abuse: tracking the law, the tech, and the gap between them
46 entries in this thread.
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Roundup Dating appdates (May ‘26): ‘Pixel twins’, Tinder’s iris scans, and a gay hook-up gold rush
Match Group drops $100M into gay hook-up app Sniffies, Squirt lands on iOS, and Tinder partners with iris-scanning startup World as dating apps chase growth outside their declining core.
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Roundup Dating appdates (Apr’ 26): height verification, AI interventions, and Bumble’s big reinvention
Bumble previews an AI-heavy relaunch centered on assistant 'Bee', while OKCupid settles an FTC lawsuit over sharing three million user photos with facial recognition firm Clarifai in 2014 — with no financial penalty.
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Roundup Dating appdates (Mar ’26): Ashley Madison drops the affairs, Tea posts get scrubbed for $2, and dating apps are officially ‘subscription traps’
Ashley Madison drops its affair-forward branding for 'discretion,' a paid takedown service targets Tea app reviews for $2, and a Groundwork Collective report brands dating apps 'subscription traps.'
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Roundup Dating appdates (Feb ’26): Grindr locks down the Olympic Village, Tinder owes $60M, and Hinge founder bails
Grindr disables location features in the Olympic Village for the 2026 Winter Olympics; Hinge founder Justin McLeod departs to build AI dating app Overtone; Tinder faces a $60.5M settlement over age-based pricing discrimination.
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Roundup Dating appdates (Jan ’26): Tea’s web return, Partiful’s Crush, Grindr’s retail ambitions
Tea's controversial date-vetting app returns via web browser after Apple removed it, while Grindr eyes four direct-to-consumer businesses by 2028 and Partiful adds a mutual-crush feature.
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Roundup Dating appdates (Dec ‘25): Where’s best for twinks and bears? Grindr and Twitter wrapped
Grindr's 2025 Unwrapped clocked 136 billion chats and named Switzerland the twink capital of the world; Tinder's Year In Swipe found 76% of Gen Z daters willing to let AI into their love lives.
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Roundup Dating appdates (Nov ’25): China removes gay apps, Tinder tests AI matchmaking, and dogs get profiles
Apple removed gay dating apps Blued and Finka from China's App Store at the government's request, while Tinder pilots AI matchmaking in Australia and a dog-profile dating app launches in the US.
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News London Tech Abuse Conference 2026 to cover deepfakes, cyberstalking and online dating
UCL's Gender and Tech Research Lab is hosting a three-day Tech Abuse Conference in London in May 2026, covering deepfakes, cyberstalking, and online dating safety, with keynote speakers from Cornell Tech and Google.
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Roundup Dating Appdates (Oct ‘25): A ‘no chat’ dating app, ‘vanilla’ Feeld users fuel profits, and Meta’s AI wingman
Five dating app developments: Cerca launches friend-of-friends matching, Amata debuts an AI-driven no-chat model, Feeld hits $66M in 2024 sales, Grindr mulls going private, and Facebook Dating adds an AI assistant.
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Opinion AI dating apps promised to fix our love lives, but they might be making things worse
Dating apps from Tinder to Bumble are deepening AI integration, but critics warn the tools breed social deskilling, racial bias, financial barriers, and scam vulnerability rather than lasting connection.
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Roundup Dating appdates (Sep ‘25): Bumble’s AI matchmaker, Japan’s virtual girlfriends, and why psychopaths win at dating apps
Bumble is building a separate LLM-powered dating app with per-match monetization, while Match Group banned 660,000 Australian accounts and a Japanese app lets AI characters reject you.
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Roundup Dating appdates (Aug ’25): ‘Male’ rival to Tea app, browser history dating, Grindr’s zionist issue, and more
TeaOnHer leaked driver's licenses and selfies at launch, Tea faces a California lawsuit over its own breach, and UK dating apps including Feeld, Tinder, and Hinge rolled out age verification under the Online Safety
