On October 24, 2026, The Telegraph reported that anonymous users of Sniffies, the map-based gay cruising app, could enter any date of birth that made them 18 or older and get in without proving their age. Once inside, they could message other users and view registered profiles, according to follow-ups by Global Dating Insights and Online Personals Watch. Ofcom confirmed it is "in contact with the company" about compliance with the Online Safety Act. Labour MP Chi Onwurah raised concerns about the app's safeguards and questioned Ofcom's oversight.

Why It Matters

This is the hybrid case the Online Safety Act's porn duties haven't really tested yet: a **social and dating app that also allows explicit content**. The dispute is specific. Sniffies says it gates the explicit material. The Telegraph says the social layer, including messaging and profiles, is reachable after only a self-declared birthday. If Ofcom decides the whole service needs highly effective age assurance at the door, every cruising, hookup and kink-social platform with UK users (see [Squirt's real-time check-ins](/stories/squirt-places-checkin-cruising)) will have to reconsider how it handles anonymous browsing. Match faces a reputational question too, because it bought into the category to grow it. Ofcom has not opened a formal investigation, and contact is not enforcement.

Sniffies denies any breach. It said that everyone in the UK, including anonymous visitors, has to pass age assurance before seeing pornographic content, that explicit material is blocked for users who haven't completed it, and that accounts involved in grooming are permanently banned. As Gayety notes, since July 25, 2025 every UK service that allows pornography must use age checks Ofcom considers "highly effective." The regulator has said "self-declaration of age… [is] not highly effective." Fines can reach £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is higher. Gayety also notes that Sniffies was not on Ofcom's age-assurance enforcement page as of its last update on May 27.

There is also a corporate angle. Match Group (Tinder, Hinge) paid $100 million in cash for a minority stake in Sniffies in April 2026, with an option to buy the rest. Match puts Sniffies at about 3 million monthly active users worldwide. Founder and CEO Blake Gallagher said at the time that the money would support "continuing to invest in Trust & Safety."

Sources

Update — 2026-10-31

Initial entry — story first created.

Update — 2026-11-05

Match now says it owns "about half" of Sniffies. On Match Group's Q3 earnings call on November 2, 2026, CEO Spencer Rascoff said: "We purchased about half of Sniffies" (Motley Fool transcript). He made the remark while listing what he'd done in his first seven quarters, just after "We purchased HER." It is the first time Match has given any indication of the size of the stake. The April announcement called the $100 million investment "a significant minority ownership stake," and Match's latest 10-Q still describes "a $100.0 million minority investment in Sniffies" (Gayety). Gayety points out that "about half" is an approximation, not a disclosed percentage. Taken at face value, it implies an equity value of very roughly $200 million. That is our arithmetic, not a disclosed figure.

The financial background is in Gayety's account. Match said in May it has an option to acquire the remaining equity, "similar to the approach we took with our initial investment in Hinge in 2017." A Form D filed by Sniffies Holdings on May 8 shows $100 million in equity sold to one unnamed investor. Match closed its own gay app, Archer, on June 17, and Archer's help centre pointed users to Sniffies. Sniffies does not yet appear in Match's list of brands. Rascoff also said Tinder's new "Queue Unification" recommendation system is being rolled out to more LGBTQ+ audiences into 2027.

What changed: Ofcom's questions about age checks now concern an app that is about half-owned by the largest dating company in the world, which holds an option to buy the rest. Any UK compliance cost or enforcement action affects Match's balance sheet as well as Sniffies.

New Sources