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Facebook reveals how it handles harassment inside US offices
Facebook has been publicly searching for a solution to harassment, hate speech and bullying on the site for years -- and at the same time, less publicly, the company has been honing its internal approach to these subjects. Today, Facebook published its US harassment policy, in full, in an attempt to "be as transparent as possible, share best practices, and learn from one another -- recognizing that policies will evolve as we gain experience," according to COO Sheryl Sandberg and VP of People Lori Goler.
OKCupid hopes interest searches will replace swipes in dating apps
The yes-or-no swipe is the de facto way to find matches in dating apps these days, but it has its limits. Do you really want to sift through dozens of people just to find the one or two that share your interests? Even those sites that do offer search tend to focus just on basics like age or relationship goals. OKCupid, at least, thinks it can do better. It's launching a Discovery feature that lets you search for people who share similar interests. If you want to find a fellow geek or won't date someone unless they share your fondness for macramé, you can cut to the chase and find only the matches you care about.
Senators introduce bill to criminalize revenge porn
Senators have introduced a bill today which, if passed, would establish federal criminal liability for those sharing revenge porn. The bill, Ending Nonconsensual Online User Graphic Harassment (ENOUGH) Act of 2017, will address what Congressperson Jackie Speier calls a "gaping hole in our legal system".
Pornhub's first store has a livestreaming bed camera, of course
Pop-up stores are all the rage, but Pornhub's shop in New York City is offering something... unique. If you visit its just-opened location on 70 Wooster Street, you'll see a bed with a camera that livestreams directly to the porn giant's website. No, you can't get away with what normally happens on a bed at Pornhub, but you are encouraged to "interact" with the camera. And let's be honest: this is probably your best shot at appearing live on a porn site without having to explain a surprise career move.
Pornhub owner may become the UK's gatekeeper of online porn
NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts. Mindgeek may be the most powerful company that you've never heard of, or at least, a company you'll claim never to have heard about in polite society. It's the conglomerate that owns some of the world's most visited porn sites, including Pornhub, RedTube and YouPorn. Far from simply being a popular and free way for people to consume adult content, it may soon have a powerful political role in the UK that will ensure its dominance for decades to come. That's because, within the next year, Mindgeek may become the principal gatekeeper between the country's internet users and their porn.
Grindr adds more transgender-inclusive features
Grindr is rolling out new features to be more inclusive of transgender members. User profiles now include a new "identity" feature that includes options for listing gender and preferred pronouns. Members can pick from a list of common gender identities such as "trans man", "woman", "cis man", "non-binary, "non-conforming" and "queer", or specify their own identity if it doesn't appear on the list. Pronouns such as "he/him/his", "she/her/hers" and "they/them/theirs" can also be chosen, or specific pronouns written if not listed. Writing throughout the website has also been updated to include gender neutral terms.
Connected sex toys recorded intimate sessions without consent
Days ago, a Redditor discovered that their Lovense remote control app was unknowingly recording audio of a six-minute intimate session between the user and their significant other. It happened while they used the app to control the Lovense vibrator it's paired with, and it saved the recording to a local file buried in the phone's media storage. Another commenter, claiming to be a Lovense representative, said these recordings are the result of a "minor software bug."
Facebook's revenge porn prevention test has users upload photos
The Australian government and Facebook have teamed up in the fight against revenge porn. As the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reports, alongside Australia's Office of the eSafety Commissioner, Facebook has launched a pilot program aimed at not just curtailing the spread of revenge porn once it begins, but preventing it altogether.
The real consequences of Patreon's adult content crackdown
NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts. On October 17th, crowdfunding website Patreon amended the terms of its acceptable use policy as part of a wider program of reform. The new document was now much more proscriptive about what the site's users could and could not use its payments platform for. Beyond tightening provisions around hate speech and illegal content, the site essentially banned sex workers and adult content of a sexual nature. Patreon had always described itself as "not for pornography" but offered a broad latitude for projects that contained erotic content, and the change has caused much upset in the community that produces such material.
Australia tackles revenge porn with a national reporting tool
Companies like Microsoft, Google, Twitter and Facebook have in the past made attempts to help victims of revenge porn, but it's still a big problem as recent incidents have made very clear. Well the Australian government has been working on a way to address the issue, Gizmodo reports, and the result is a national portal to help victims of revenge porn.
Kiiroo taps OhMiBod to build a better connected vibrator
Way back when, Dutch teledildonic startup Kiiroo launched a pair of devices that let you have sex from opposite ends of the internet. There was only one problem: the Onyx male masturbator and Pearl connected vibrator were pretty underwhelming. It's a problem that Kiiroo has sought to remedy by leaving the hardware design to sex toy manufacturers who know what they're doing.
Natural Cycles says contraceptive app is more effective than the pill
Contraceptive app Natural Cycles is more effective than the pill, according to the latest and largest study into the app's efficacy. After testing 22,785 women throughout 224,563 menstrual cycles, the startup found the app provided 99 percent contraceptive effectiveness if used perfectly. If used "typically", the app was 93 percent effective. The contraceptive pill, meanwhile, is 91 percent effective.
The surprisingly lackluster rise of VR porn
"It's like being inside of a womb or a particularly immaculate throat, all gently pulsating, mucus-y pink flesh." NSFW Warning: This story may contain links to and descriptions or images of explicit sexual acts.
Taking ‘upskirt’ photos isn’t technically illegal, but it soon could be
This is a baffling one. You'd think that laws governing sexual offenses or rights to privacy or something would make it very obviously illegal to point a camera lens up a woman's skirt and snap a pic without their consent. But as it stands, anyone can do this without too much fear of punishment, at least in England and Wales. (Scotland included a specific voyeurism offence covering activities such as "upskirting" and "downblousing" in its Sexual Offences Act 2009.) Justice Secretary David Lidington told MPs yesterday he was taking legal advice on the matter, effectively preempting a potential, formal change to legislation to make upskirting illegal.
Tinder Gold launches worldwide to reveal who likes you
Tinder has been trying out its Gold subscription service in a handful of countries since June, and now it's launching the experimental tier worldwide. Pay $5 per month on top of Tinder Plus (this price isn't set in stone) and you can find out who likes you without having to swipe through an endless sea of profiles. In that sense, it's more like a classic dating site -- you can go straight to the people who fancy you and match up with the ones who pique your interest. You also get other premium Tinder features like Passport, Rewind and one Boost per month.
Match.com turned its most eligible bachelors into free dolls
Match.com is as synonymous with online dating as Tinder is with casual bonking, but even an established platform needs a good PR push occasionally. In a campaign that would've almost certainly become national news if genders had been reversed, Match.com and PR agency Brands2Life set up a pop-up shop in London's swanky Marylebone area this week, offering free dolls modelled (literally) on the site's most eligible bachelors.
Verified Twitter users have their very own dating app
Just like the rest of us, celebrities yearn for love too. These days most people seeking romance (and other pursuits) can turn to a dating app. But a traditional Tinder account is just too basic for the rich and famous (especially if they want to hookup with mutually wealthy people). Enter Loveflutter "Blue," the latest premium app aimed at celebs -- only this new dating service comes with a twist. The app exclusively caters to verified Twitter users. Hence its name, which refers to the platform's blue tick community.
Rob Kardashian’s revenge porn is social media’s latest headache
Members of the Kardashian-Jenner family, like Kanye West's wife, Kim, and model Kendall, didn't become famous by being afraid of the spotlight. Heck, their reality TV show, Keeping up with the Kardashians, centers around every move they make in their personal and business lives. But that celebrity status arguably requires some degree of responsibility. And that's something Rob Kardashian failed to exercise when he posted explicit photos and videos of his ex-girlfriend Blac Chyna on social media last week.
Dating app Hinge is back on Android after nine-month break
Android fans haven't been able to use the Hinge dating app for around nine months, but that's all changing. The relationship-minded dating app is now available on Google's mobile OS. Hinge says based on its previous Android user-base that it expects that to grow by 30 percent from current numbers. Which in turn means better chances at finding long-term love. What's more, the company says that its amount of daily active users has grown by 50 percent in the last two months alone -- more potential matches can only be a good thing for everyone involved regardless of what software their phone runs.
Twitter left high-profile revenge porn live for 30 minutes
A verified Twitter user with 7.33 million followers shared nude photos of his ex-girlfriend, seemingly without her permission and as a form of public shaming -- and the images remained live on the site for 30 minutes, Business Insider reports. The images were shared by Rob Kardashian, first on Instagram and later on Twitter, where they were viewable for half an hour before disappearing. It's unclear whether Kardashian removed the images himself or if Twitter stepped in. His Twitter account is active and tweets related to the images are still live.
