Valentine launch of dating app crushed by regulators

The Irish Data Protection Commission didn’t love that Facebook’s forthcoming European dating app failed to fully address privacy risk, and so the social media company was forced to delay its Valentine’s Day launch of the feature.  

As reported by cnet.com, Facebook's delay shows that the social network is facing “tougher hurdles” as it tries to expand its popular dating feature worldwide and would likely grapple with risks affecting other dating sites: privacy and security risks stemming from fake profiles and scams.

Facebook dating, meanwhile, is currently available in 20 countries including the United States.

But Facebook's Ireland office informed the Irish agency of its plans on Feb. 3 and didn’t give regulators ample time to ensure the dating feature complied with the European Union’s data protection rules, according to the article.