Match Group Files Lawsuit Against Apple in India

Match Group, which owns Tinder, Hinge and other popular dating apps, has brought a lawsuit against Apple in India, accusing the tech giant of “monopolistic conduct.”

According to an exclusive report from Reuters, the lawsuit follows other filings the company has made against Apple’s App Store practices, since the company takes commission on every in-app sale and doesn’t allow third party payment systems. Match Group filed a complaint in the Netherlands with the country’s regulatory agency which fined Apple almost 50 million euro, until they came to an agreement to revise App Store practices.

Another lawsuit was filed against Apple in India for its App Store practices, arguing that the company “restricts innovation and development” by “enforcing the use of its proprietary in-app purchase system and ‘excessive’ 30 percent commission,” according to Reuter’s review of the filing. That prompted an investigation from the CCI (Competition Commission of India) back in December of 2021.

In the filing, Match Group also compared its app to rideshare services, arguing that if these apps are able to use third-party payment systems, dating apps should be able to as well. "Both dating and ridesharing apps share the same fundamental purpose i.e. matching two people online to meet in the real world ... Apple has arbitrarily declared that the two are different," Match Group said in the filing, according to Reuters.

Match Group is the first large corporation to file such a suit against Apple in India.

According to Reuters, Match also argues in the filing that users in other countries (outside of the U.S.) often prefer to use payment methods outside of Apple’s, including a “state-backed online transfer system” in India.

Mark Buse, head of global government relations for Match, said in the filing: "Apple is therefore leveraging its dominant position in the iOS App Store market, to promote the exclusive use of its own payment solution.”

Apple has argued that it is not a dominant player in India, with market share of less than 5 percent, compared to Google’s Android market share of between 90 and 100 percent. Google has also been sued by Match Group for unfair Play Store practices, similar to the arguments it made against Apple, but Google has fought back by bringing a countersuit against Match Group, claiming that the company has misled customers in the past with complicated subscription service rules to dissuade people from canceling.

India is an important market for Match Group, however. It accounted for about 51 percent of consumer spending in dating apps during Q2 of this year, according to research from Sensor Tower.