Facebook Dating Shoots Cupid’s Arrow Across 32 Countries in Europe

Facebook Dating officially rolled out this week in 32 countries in Europe after the social network’s original plans for a pre-Valentine’s Day debut in the region were squashed by regulators. The original European debut day of Feb. 13, the day before Valentine’s Day, was put on hold after the Irish Data Protection Commission expressed concerns over the fact that it did not receive notice of the planned rollout until Feb. 3, and that Facebook did not provide additional information or documentation regarding Facebook Dating’s impact on users’ data and the decision-making process behind bringing it to Europe. Facebook falls under the IDPC’s domain due to its European headquarters being located in Dublin. Facebook Dating was initially introduced at F8 2019 in May 2019, and it debuted in the U.S. last September. Product manager Kate Orseth said in a Newsroom post that since Facebook Dating’s debut, over 1.5 billion matches have been created in the 20 countries where it was available prior to this week. Users who are interested created separate profiles for the dedicated, opt-in space within the social network’s flagship application, and features in Facebook Dating include: A version of Stories that enables people to share moments from their everyday lives with the hopes of finding connections over common interests.Secret Crush, which lets people choose up to nine existing Facebook friends or Instagram followers who they are interested in and, only if those people also use the Secret Crush feature, see if there are any matches. If a person on the list is not on Facebook Dating, doesn’t create their own Secret Crush list or doesn’t add the list creator to their list, they will not know about being included on the list.Facebook Dating users can add their existing events and groups from Facebook to their Facebook Dating profiles.A Virtual Dates feature enables matches who are ready to video chat to do so by clicking on the video icon in their text chats, which will send an invitation. First names and dating profile photos will be displayed when the call starts. Countries that got access to Facebook Dating this week are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K. They join the 20 markets where it was already available: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Suriname, Thailand, Uruguay, the U.S. and Vietnam. Orseth also provided details about Facebook Dating’s controls and security options in a separate Newsroom post. She stressed that Facebook Dating is completely opt-in, and Facebook Dating profiles can be deleted at any time without affecting the main Facebook account. By default, Facebook Dating profiles contain the first name and age from users’ Facebook profiles, and these cannot be edited. However, users have the choice of sharing other information, such as hometown, occupation and religion. Facebook Dating users can also choose to use a gender identity different than the one on their main Facebook profiles, and Orseth said gender identities and preferences are not displayed on Facebook Dating profiles. Facebook Dating users can opt to see potential matches who are members of the same groups they are in or interested in the same events, and when that suggested matches option is turned on, they may appear as suggested matches for others in those groups or events. People have the option of adding their Instagram feed or Stories to their Facebook Dating profiles. Orseth wrote, “Facebook Dating may suggest matches for you based on your activities, preferences and information in Dating and other Facebook products. We may also use your activity in Dating to personalize your experience, including ads you may see, across Facebook products. The exception to this is your religious views and the gender(s) you are interested in dating, which will not be used to personalize your experience on other Facebook products.” She added, “We won’t suggest current Facebook friends as potential matches or notify them that you’ve joined Dating. For example, your Dating profile, Dating messages and who you like or match with in Dating won’t appear in your Facebook News Feed. You can choose whether or not you want Facebook friends of friends suggested as potential matches. If you opt out of the ‘Suggest friends of friends’ option, you will not see your Facebook friends’ friends as suggested matches. Anyone you’ve blocked on Facebook or in Dating will not be suggested as a match for you.”