Tinder, Hinge Accused of Designing Apps to Promote Addiction (1)

Dating platforms Tinder and Hinge use “psychologically manipulative product features” to lure users and sell pricey subscriptions, according to a purported class action against the platforms’ parent Match Group Inc.

Push notifications, incentive rewards, and other features used by online-dating conglomerate Match Group are allegedly meant to ensure users became addicted to the company’s platforms, the lawsuit says. The dispute was filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

The complaint, brought by people on dating apps, including Hinge and Tinder, alleged that once a user is addicted to an app, Match Group inserts an “artificial usage bottleneck.” Tinder allows users to “like” 100 profiles per day and Hinge only eight. Purchasing a subscription removes that bottleneck.

“After years of conditioning and manipulation, Match Group has unveiled packages that cost obscene amounts—hundreds of dollars—that people are now ‘willing’ to pay to satisfy the addiction,” said one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Timothy Giordano of Clarkson Law Firm PC, in a press statement.

Dating-app addiction results in “upward social comparisons, decreased self-esteem, dissatisfaction with current relationships, and feelings of loneliness and depression,” the complaint said.

A Match Group spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg Law that the “lawsuit is ridiculous and has zero merit.”

“We actively strive to get people on dates and off our apps,” the spokesperson said. “Anyone who states anything else doesn’t understand the purpose and mission of our entire industry.”

The suit is asking the court to stop the Hinge dating app from using the advertising slogan “Designed to be Deleted"—that is, meant to be used only for a limited time, to establish in-person relationships. The plaintiffs are also seeking monetary compensation for the price of the subscriptions, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs.

Social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are facing hundreds of lawsuits around the country alleging they use addictive design features that harm youth mental health.

The case is Oksayan v. MatchGroup Inc., N.D. Cal., No. 3:24-cv-00888, 2/14/24.