On Dating Journal Editors – On Dating Journal

RESEARCH

Almost half of UK singles say it has never been harder to connect, Match Group survey finds

A Match Group-commissioned survey of 3,007 UK singles finds 47% say connecting has never been harder and a third met nobody new in person last month. Coffee and walks top the first-date list, and two-thirds reject AI chatting on their behalf.

By On Dating Journal Editors Published 25.10.20263 min read

A white speech bubble icon on a black square, symbolising a chatbot conversation

INDUSTRY · 25.10.2026

Character.AI is for sale in bankruptcy, and 12 million users’ chats are not part of Disney’s deal

Disney has bid $20m for a licence to Character.AI's technology, but not the app or its users' conversations. Now dozens of US states are fighting over the sale rules, and what happens to those chats is still open.

Person holding a smartphone in a dark room lit by glowing computer screens

SAFETY · 25.10.2026

Meta’s Muse: some users call it a girlfriend, and a sharing flaw left 6,800 chats discoverable

Six weeks after launch, Meta's AI agent is being treated as a romantic partner by some adults, and Meta has paused chat sharing after researchers found thousands of shared conversations through public DNS records. What it means for anyone confiding in an AI.

A smartphone with a red screen showing the time, suggesting a subscription renewal reminder

REGULATION · 24.10.2026

UK subscription rules: dating apps must send renewal reminders and allow easy cancellation from 2027

Draft regulations laid on 19 October set out how the UK's crackdown on subscription traps will work from 1 January 2027, from reminders before a free trial ends to a second 14-day cooling-off period after renewals.

A hand holding a smartphone with a cracked screen in low light

REGULATION · 24.10.2026

Singapore’s government launches FirstDate, a dating app for its own civil servants

One match at a time, verified by national ID and paired by a Nobel-winning algorithm: Singapore joins Tokyo and Seoul in trying to play matchmaker.

WORLD · 28.09.2026

Hinge brings a waitlist and screenshot blocking to India in safety-first relaunch

New members in India may have to wait before they can like or match, and profiles can no longer be screenshotted, as Match Group's fastest-growing app tailors itself to a new market.

Almost half of UK singles say it has never been harder to connect, Match Group survey finds

Character.AI is for sale in bankruptcy, and 12 million users’ chats are not part of Disney’s deal

Meta’s Muse: some users call it a girlfriend, and a sharing flaw left 6,800 chats discoverable

UK subscription rules: dating apps must send renewal reminders and allow easy cancellation from 2027

New US law will make dating apps warn users who chatted with banned scammers

Bumble agrees $1.3bn takeover by Ithaca Holdings and will go private

Tinder launches Group Hangouts, letting friendship groups match with each other

Grindr buys PrEP provider Freddie’s parent PurposeMed in $250m health push

Singapore’s government launches FirstDate, a dating app for its own civil servants

Hinge brings a waitlist and screenshot blocking to India in safety-first relaunch