Match Group Pays Two Million in Settlements

Dating conglomerate Match Group was ordered to pay $2 million USD to settle a civil lawsuit filed by Santa Cruz County involving the company’s practices when it comes to automatic renewals. Match Group app users complained of a confusing and difficult process when they wanted to terminate their accounts and were often unaware when the company automatically renewed their membership without notifying or asking them to do so.

According to The San Diego Union Tribune, the settlement was signed by a Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge in early July, and the company was ordered to pay civil penalties and victim restitution that amounted to $2 million. Match Group has also been ordered to change its renewal and termination processes to make them more transparent to customers, including getting consent from users via a checkbox before automatically renewing their subscriptions, and emailing customers confirmations of transactions.

“Consumers should be protected from practices that deceptively and unfairly force them to pay for something they don’t want,” L.A. District Attorney Gascón told Canyon News. “We want companies to thrive, but they should be mindful to not abuse technology tools to violate consumer protections.”

The lawsuit was initially filed by Santa Cruz County’s Consumer Affairs and Environmental Protection Units along with the California Automatic Renewal Task Force (CART). CART was formed specifically to address automatic renewals, which have become a problem with companies offering online subscriptions for services. Instead of notifying customers that they can terminate their accounts, many companies opt instead to automatically renew without giving notice or a clear choice to accept or decline.

The CART team reaches across California, and is led by district attorneys in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara counties, and has been a model for other states to protect consumers. In addition to the Match Group settlement, CART has been awarded judgments against Apple and Amazon for unfair competition practices, and plans to continue its efforts to protect consumers from giant corporations taking advantage of their position.

District Attorney Summer Stephan said in a news release. “These laws exist so that consumers are not surprised by unanticipated recurring charges and, when seeking to cancel an automatically renewing subscription, can do so simply and efficiently. This is one of several recent examples of our consumer protection team working with CART to achieve compliance with these important laws.”

Match Group agreed to settle but did not admit to any wrongdoing, according to reports. The company owns several popular dating apps, including Tinder, OkCupid, Hinge and Plenty of Fish.