Facebook launches dating service in Europe after nine-month delay

European Facebook users in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Spain, Switzerland and the UK can opt into Facebook Dating by creating a profile at facebook.com/dating.

Among the dating product’s main features are the ability to share Stories on your profile; a Secret Crush feature that lets you select up to nine of your Facebook friends or Instagram followers who you’d like to date.

The service was to be launched in early 2020 but was delayed due to concerns regarding users' personal data. This led to the intervention of the EU's lead data regulator, the Irish Data Protection Commission.

The regulator said that the company had not provided enough advanced warning of the launch and there was insufficient documentation on its functioning.

DPC will now monitor the EU launch, although it has given Facebook permission to go ahead.

Additionally, the DPC says Facebook has made some changes to the product in light of the concerns it had raised.

Deputy commissioner, Graham Doyle, told TechCrunch: “As you will recall, the DPC became aware of Facebook’s plans to launch Facebook Dating a number of days prior to its planned launch in February of this year. Further to the action taken by the DPC at the time (which included an on-site inspection and a number of queries and concerns being put to Facebook), Facebook has provided detailed clarifications on the processing of personal data in the context of the Dating feature. Facebook has also provided details of changes that they have made to the product to take account of the issues raised by the DPC. We will continue to monitor the product as it launches across the EU this week.”

In a press release about the European launch, Facebook said it had “built Dating with safety, security and privacy at the forefront.

“We worked with experts in these areas to provide easy access to safety tips and build protections into Facebook Dating, including the ability to report and block anyone, as well as stopping people from sending photos, links, payments or videos in messages.”