Applications
Abusive posts results in end of PostSecret iPhone app
MUMBAI: PostSecret, the popular blog and new-media project that‘s long given people a place to share their deepest, darkest thoughts, announced that its iPhone app has been shut down due to malicious postings.
PostSecret founder Frank Warren receives hundreds of postcards and letters from strangers every week and posts about 20 of them on his blog on Sundays. The app was launched in September 2011.
Warren said that anonymous acts of kindness and malice played out in a creative and complex online culture of two million shared secrets.
The PostSecret app let users take photos and upload 140 characters worth of ‘secret‘ to the PostSecret mobile community with absolute anonymity which was part of the reason why the app became popular.
“Unfortunately, that absolute anonymity made it very challenging to permanently remove determined users with malicious intent,” Warren wrote on the PostSecret blog. “99 per cent of the secrets created were in the spirit of PostSecret. Unfortunately, the scale of secrets was so large that even 1 percent of bad content was overwhelming for our dedicated team of volunteer moderators who worked 24 hours a day 7 days a week removing content that was not just pornographic but also gruesome and at times threatening.”
It was reported that users complained to Warren, Apple, and the FBI about bad content. “Threats were made against users, moderators and my family. (Two specific threats were made that I am unable to talk about). As much as we tried, we were unable to maintain a bully-free environment. Weeks ago I had to remove the App from my daughter‘s phone,” Warren added.
He said that PostSecret fought hard the decision to close the app, even attempting to prescreen 30,000 secrets a day. “Deciding to remove the App from the App Store last week and holding back the release of the Android version cost us money but we feel it was the right thing to do.”
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
