In 1994, Andrew Conru created the 1st online dating site, WebPersonals. After promoting that site in 1995, he launched FriendFinder. com, an early social networking site, in 1996. Days after the positioning went live, Conru found that people were posting naked images of themselves and seeking companions for adult oriented actions.
As a result, Conru started Adult FriendFinder, which he described as “a free up valve”. FriendFinder has since established other niche dating sites, adding Senior FriendFinder, Amigos. com, BigChurch. com, and Alt. com. The parent agency Various, Inc.
had issue finding venture capital due to adult nature of its enterprise. In December 2007, the company was sold to the Penthouse Media Group for $500 million. Penthouse later transformed its name to FriendFinder Networks. In October 2009, as a part of an association with The Kluger Agency, musician Flo Rida published a music video for his song “Touch Me” via Adult FriendFinder. A representative of the agency stated that it was “always great to combine a very sexy high octane record with a very sexy brand. Adult FriendFinder has been accused of committing systematic billing fraud.
According to the proceedings filed, the company has a convention of continuing to bill clients even after they have cancelled their carrier. Former employees of the company have claimed that here is their typical policy and not the end result of errors. These employees have stated that the general public of customers do not notice the costs for lots months. As of October 2014, lots of of civil cases were filed in opposition t the company and a crook indictment was made by the Federal Trade Commission against the company. In 2007, Adult FriendFinder settled with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that the agency had used malware to generate explicit pop up ads for the provider on computer systems with out user consent.