Although Facebook users in the United States have had access to the app's dating feature for nearly six months, hopeful romantics in Europe are still waiting. Facebook Dating, the company's in-app dating feature, was initially set to roll out to European users on February 13, the day before Valentine's Day.
However, the rollout has since been delayed to an unknown date after privacy regulators raised concerns about Facebook Dating's compliance to new data privacy rules in the European Union.
With its launch in the US in September, Facebook Dating has been lauded as the massive tech company's answer to the booming market of online dating currently dominated by apps like Tinder, Match. Although Facebook Dating is now operating in more than 20 countries , the company is still missing out on a huge number of users across Europe.
But Facebook users in Europe will continue to wait. GDPR, which went into effect in , is designed to give people more control over their personal data and regulate how much access companies have to it. Facebook failed to tell privacy regulators about their timeline for releasing Facebook Dating until 10 days before its scheduled launch, according to a statement from the Irish Data Protection Commission, who has jurisdiction because Facebook's European headquarters are located in Dublin.
Further, Irish regulators said Facebook didn't submit the necessary documents, including data protection impact assessments, about Facebook Dating's privacy practices. In response, "several inspectors" made a visit Monday to Facebook's Dublin offices to try to obtain the proper information, the commission said. Facebook is pushing back on privacy regulators' statement. It's unknown how long Facebook Dating's debut in Europe will be delayed.
