A recent report unveiled that a significant majority (80 percent) of dating applications may either share or trade your personal information for advertising purposes.
Mozilla, the developer behind the Firefox Internet browser, conducted an examination of 25 dating apps, branding 22 of them with the label 'Privacy Not Included,' the lowest rating in their classification system.
Among the apps scrutinized, only Lex, which is queer-owned and operated, received positive feedback, while Harmony and Happn were deemed to have satisfactory ratings.
Researcher Misha Rykov remarked, "Dating apps often claim that the more personal data you disclose, the higher your chances of finding love. However, there's no concrete evidence to support this assertion. What is clear is that most dating apps inadequately safeguard this information."
The report highlighted that approximately 25 percent of these apps gather metadata from user content, including details such as when a photo or video was captured, the location, and the date. Furthermore, it was noted that many popular dating platforms like Hinge, Tinder, OKCupid, Match, Plenty of Fish, BLK, and BlackPeopleMeet possess access to precise geo-location data of their users.
Moreover, certain applications, such as Hinge, have been found to collect location data even when the app is not in active use, operating in the background.
In response to these findings, the researchers outlined three key privacy recommendations for users of dating apps: treat your dating profile akin to your LinkedIn profile, refrain from logging in using third-party accounts, and minimize app permissions whenever feasible.
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