Middle Schoolers and "Dating"

My daughter started middle school this year (6th grade), and we found out accidently that she has had two boyfriends now. We had asked that she wait until high school (9th grade) to start dating, but that's clearly not happening. Our issue isn't as much the boyfriends as the lying. She has smiled and lied to our face several times about this.

My parents were very strict, and they would toss my room, read my diaries and notes, monitor my phone calls, etc. I'm trying hard not to be like that. We do not monitor her phone, read her texts or emails, etc. We had a calm talk about it, asked her about her feels, and agreed that she can "date" at school, but we would not be driving her to meet anyone outside of school or letting these boys come to our house. We also ask that she at least keep us updated if she has a boyfriend, and we won't be asking too many questions other than that.

It appears this is a social function of middle school that seems to be important to her, and I don't want her to feel "left out", but I also don't want her to be in someone's basement alone with a boy at 11. I just feel she's really too young for boyfriends, but it appears to be a thing that is happening with most of the girls in middle school right now, as I've talked to some of the other parents. Overall, it seems pretty juvenile and innocent, but I won't be supporting this outside of school or school functions.

How are you handling "dating" in middle school? I can't control what she does at school, so I'm trying to let her have some freedoms, as I know disallowing her and snooping on her will just make her a sneaky liar (I know I was with my parents). But I will not be taking her on "dates" or letting them hang out alone at my house (some of the parents are doing this now).