Grindr appoints George Arison as CEO, starting October 19, ahead of its planned SPAC merger; Arison was previously CEO at auto e-commerce marketplace Shift (Michael Tobin/Bloomberg)

Alex Harring / CNBC:
LGBTQ dating app Grindr closed up 213.84% at $36.50 per share in its NYSE debut under the new ticker GRND following its SPAC merger  —  – Grindr surged in trading Friday in its first day under a new ticker following its merger with blank-check company Tiga.

New York Times:
China has let dating apps flourish amid its crackdown on tech; data.ai: the number of dating apps with 1K+ downloads is up from 81 in 2017 to 275 in 2022  —  China has cracked down on many tech companies, but has allowed dating apps that provide social connections to flourish.

Ashley Gold / Axios:
Following tests on Instagram, Meta begins testing age verification tools on Facebook Dating, letting users upload IDs or video selfies screened by partner Yoti  —  Meta is testing age verification tools on Facebook Dating, a move the company says will make the product safer, per an announcement shared exclusively with Axios.

Washington Post:
Some online disinformation experts criticize Twitter’s approach to Libs of TikTok, as some US hospitals face threats following posts by the anti-LGBTQ account  —  Employees are warning colleagues to take action against the anti-LGBTQ account, saying it’s ‘only a matter of time’ its posts lead to violence.

Jack Stebbins / CNBC:
Digital World Acquisition Corp., seeking to take Truth Social public via a SPAC, fails to gain shareholder approval and sets an October 10 deadline for a vote  —  – Digital World Acquisition Corp. adjourned its shareholder meeting for over a month as its planned merger with Donald Trump’s media firm hangs in the balance.

Nilay Patel / The Verge:
Q&A with LinkedIn’s Chief Product Officer Tomer Cohen on the number of people hired via LinkedIn being a core metric, generative AI, regulation, and more  —  We dive into managing the relationships between designers, engineers, and PMs. … Tomer Cohen is the chief product officer at LinkedIn …