A group of plaintiffs in the United States has filed a class-action lawsuit against Match Group, which owns the popular online dating service Tinder as well as similar apps such as Hinge and The League. The complaint alleges that these platforms are designed not to help people form relationships, but to exploit their desire for profit. This was reported by Agency Reuters.
Plaintiffs said Match’s “predatory” business model deceived the expectations of those looking for love. Tinder’s algorithm encourages “compulsive use” of the platform and encourages people to pay hundreds of dollars a year for a subscription.
According to filings in San Francisco federal court, Match uses gamification (injecting game elements and mechanics) features into its platforms to turn app usage into “psychological bounty hunting that Match intentionally makes difficult to understand.”
According to the suit’s authors, the company’s actions violate many state consumer protection laws. The plaintiffs demanded that Match pay an unspecified amount of damages to people who used Tinder, Hinge or The League in the past four years and a warning about the risk of in-app psychological addiction.
Match Group has yet to comment officially on the lawsuit filed against them.
Previously on Amazon, the world’s largest marketplace sent I went to court to persuade users to make more expensive purchases.