Match Group (NASDAQ:MTCH) is a Dallas-based company that provides dating products to a worldwide client base. Online dating has become the most popular way for couples to meet in the present day. However, the methods that Match Group has employed has attracted unwanted attention in recent months.
The company owns and operates some of the most popular dating applications in the world, including Tinder, Plenty of Fish, Hinge, and match.com. Shares of Match Group have climbed 1% month-over-month as of early morning trading on Tuesday, February 20. However, the stock is still down 13% in the year-over-year period.
On Valentine’s Day 2024, a class-action lawsuit was filed in San Fransisco. The lawsuit asserts that dating apps Tinder and Hinge are intentionally designed to make their users into addicts. It begins by stating that dating apps “have altered social reality. A millennium of traditional courtship has been replaced by technology.” Ultimately, the lawsuit aims to make the case that online dating has demanded a heavy price from its users.
The lawsuit goes on to state that Match Group “employs recognized dopamine-manipulating product features to gamify the Platforms to transform users into gamblers in a search for psychological rewards that Match makes elusive on purpose.” For example, the lawsuit points to “push notifications”. These alert users on the platform to action when they may not be using it. It alleges that this serves to “punish users from disengaging and reward[s] compulsive users.”
For its part, Match Group has dismissed the lawsuit as “ridiculous” and claims it has “zero merit”. The company generated $3.36 billion in revenue in 2023 – up 6% from fiscal 2022. Tinder and Hinge accounted for more than 70% of that total revenue.
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