Match Group (Tinder / Hinge / Match.com / OkCupid / PlentyOfFish)

Hinge markets itself as 'Designed to be Deleted' — but a 2024 lawsuit alleges the algorithm deliberately hides the profiles it already knows you'd like MOST behind a scarce 'rose' mechanic (just ONE free rose per week), while showing you a stream of less-compelling matches through regular likes instead. Users have nicknamed this 'rose jail.' Separately, the lawsuit alleges Tinder gives women more free likes than men by default — an artificial, built-in scarcity for men specifically engineered to push them toward paid subscriptions. Match Group's own SEC filings (Form 10-K) report that 98% OF ITS REVENUE is 'direct revenue' from users paying for subscriptions and features — across an app portfolio that includes one marketed as 'designed to be deleted.'

• Severity
• Evidence tierUnassigned
• Claims confirmed
• Last verified2026-08-04

Case status. Private litigation; no sources are on file yet, so no legal tier is assigned.

Primary source. None recorded — Unverified - heuristic first draft.

Arbitration

FTC LAWSUIT + $14 MILLION SETTLEMENT (2019 suit, settled 2025): the FTC sued Match Group alleging it used FAKE 'love interest' advertisements — generated from accounts Match had ALREADY internally flagged as likely fraudulent — to trick hundreds of thousands of non-subscribers into buying paid subscriptions just to respond to a message from a probable scammer; Match also allegedly offered a misleading '6-month guarantee' with undisclosed conditions, and RETALIATED against customers who filed credit-card chargeback disputes by locking their accounts. Match agreed (settlement announced Aug 12, 2025) to pay $14 million and to implement simple, clear cancellation mechanisms and guarantee disclosures going forward. Separately, a 2024 lawsuit (Tinder/Hinge) alleges the apps are deliberately designed to be ADDICTIVE using dark-pattern techniques, drawing explicit comparisons to the same FTC dark-patterns enforcement trend later used against Vonage ($100M) in the same period. Tinder also reportedly practices undisclosed 'shadow banning' — reducing a paying subscriber's visibility to other users with zero notification, while continuing to collect the subscription fee.

Contacts

Privacy contact. Not recorded.

Legal notice. Not verified this pass. If publicly traded: SEC Form 10-K cover page gives the official corporate address; the Secretary of State business-entity search in the state of incorporation gives the registered agent, which must accept service. If private: the state registered agent is usually the only reliable route.

Mailing address. Not recorded.