Match Group, the Dallas-based company that owns Tinder, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish, Hinge, and other online dating platforms, has agreed to pay a $14 million settlement tied to a federal lawsuit.
The online dating giant will also change how it markets and manages subscriptions as part of the suit. The Federal Trade Commission alleged that the company used fake love interest ads, misleading promises, and maintained confusing cancellation processes to help boost revenue.
The agreement closes up an FTC lawsuit that began in 2019.
The FTC accused Match of deceiving hundreds of thousands of people into paid subscriptions by delivering emails that made recipients believe someone was romantically interested in them. The agency claims many of those messages were from accounts the company had previously determined to be fraudulent.
“We believe that Match.com conned people into paying for subscriptions via messages the company knew were from scammers… Online dating services obviously shouldn’t be using romance scammers as a way to fatten their bottom line,” said then-director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection Andrew Smith at the onset of the suit’s filing.
The FTC’s complaint alleged that during certain periods between 2013 and 2016, over half of the messages and “favorites” people received on the platform came from fraudulent accounts. Notably, nearly half a million subscriptions were paid for between June 2016 and May 2018 within 24 hours of these ads going live.
As part of the settlement, Match is prohibited from misrepresenting guarantees or removing a subscriber’s access if they challenge charges. The online dating behemoth must also disclose any terms related to promotions. Finally, the company must simplify the process to cancel subscriptions.
The $14 million being paid by Match will go toward refunding affected consumers.
