Match.com has always been a great way to meet people, for introverts and extroverts alike. Once you do meet the one, or if you simply don’t like the product, most users deactivate their profile. But what happens when you are signed backup without your knowledge?
That’s an experience that just occurred for many former users of the site, as a glitch in Match’s system resulted in the reactivation of a handful of past members.
Jason Debiak told The Verge that he started receiving notifications in his email on Sunday morning, informing him he had new Matches.
“I log in, and there I am, from 15 years prior, with less gray hair. And my whole profile is there, everything,” he said. “I contacted customer service, and they said, ‘Oh, we’re sorry you got email notifications. We’ll turn off email notifications,’” Debiak said. “And I was like, ‘No, you don’t understand. Not only do I not want email notifications — I don’t want to be on your website, ever.’”
According to a Match Group spokesperson, Debiak is one of the “limited number” of old accounts that got accidentally activated. Match.com plans to rectify this mistake in the next month or so by introducing a new privacy policy in compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). They stated that all of the reactivated accounts will be deleted once the policy is implemented, but didn’t clarify as to how exactly.
But why did Match.com even have these deactivated accounts, ones even ranging from 15 years ago, on their site? Former Eharmony VP of technology Joseph Essas said it is apart of an achieving strategy. The data essentially ends up sitting there.
This tactic has been a topic of discussion for a while now, as many worry about the cybersecurity implications it could hold. Match.com in particular has run into several issues regarding this in the past, including multiple lawsuits.
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