This Dating App for Trump Supporters Leaked Users’ Private Info on Its Very First Day

If you asked DonaldDaters, a dating app meant for Trump supporters, it’d probably say it “hires the best people.” Except that, well, we know otherwise. Here’s some news that’s almost too crazy to believe: the app leaked its user database online, jeopardizing the private info of all its users — on Monday, its literal launch day.

Luckily only around 1,500 DonaldDaters users had their info compromised, which was the number of users at the time of the leak.

The app wants to “make America date again” (too easy) and claims to be aimed at “connecting lovers, friends, and Trump supporters alike.” Naturally it scored a rave review by Fox News in a story that acknowledges how hard it can be for Trumpsters to successfully date in America. (Interesting but not surprising in the least: Fox News has failed to report on the data breach.)

“For many young Trump supporters, liberal intolerance has made meeting and dating nearly impossible,” says Emily Moreno, CEO of DonaldDaters. “Support for the president has become a dealbreaker instead of an icebreaker. That’s why we created a new platform for Trump supporters to meet people without being afraid of talking politics.”

TechCrunch reported yesterday that “a security researcher found issues with the app that made it possible to download the entire user database.” That includes users’ names, profile pics, their device type, private messages and access tokens that can be used to take over accounts.

TechCrunch says shortly after it reached out to the app, the data was pulled offline.

Moreno was forced to release a new statement following the breach: “We have taken swift and decisive action to remedy the mistake and make all possible efforts to prevent this from happening again. Out of an abundance of caution, we have temporarily suspended the chat service on the app while we implement new security protocols. We are also taking immediate steps to engage a leading, independent cybersecurity firm to pressure test the system to ensure it is secure against other vulnerabilities.”

Of course, breaches of user data isn’t merely something that Donald Trump-supporting dating apps have to deal with. In March, Grindr found itself in hot water when millions of users’ private data, messages and locations (even if the user had opted out of sharing GPS data) were exposed. Last September saw Grindr deal with yet another security breach, as a third-party app was able to pinpoint users’ exact location.

Following the initial Grindr security breach, Hornet released a statement about its policies and precautions concerning data security.

What do you think of DonaldDaters leaking its user database online?

Featured image by Reuters/James Lawler Duggan