Match Group to Pay $14 Million & Overhaul Practices After FTC Allegations

Key Takeaways

• $14 Million Settlement: Match Group will pay $14 million to resolve FTC allegations of deceptive advertising, unfair billing practices, and obstructive cancellation processes.
• Misleading Guarantee: The FTC says Match’s “six-month guarantee” came with undisclosed, onerous conditions that most users could not meet.
• Unfair Retaliation: Match allegedly suspended accounts of users who lost billing disputes, keeping their money while denying services.
• Required Reforms: The settlement mandates clear disclosure of all guarantee terms, ends retaliatory actions against consumers, and requires simple cancellation mechanisms.
• Regulatory Signal: The case reflects the FTC’s ongoing crackdown on “dark patterns” and subscription practices that hinder consumer choice.

Deep Dive

Match Group, the company behind Match.com, OkCupid, PlentyOfFish, The League, and other dating platforms, will pay $14 million and make sweeping changes to its business practices to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it misled consumers and made it unnecessarily difficult to cancel subscriptions.

The case dates back to a 2019 FTC complaint alleging that Match lured users with a “six-month guarantee” that was anything but straightforward. The promise, a free half-year subscription if you didn’t “meet someone special”, came with multiple undisclosed conditions that most users could not meet. The FTC also accused Match of unfairly suspending accounts of customers who lost billing disputes with their banks, keeping their money while cutting them off from services, and of burying consumers in a cancellation process that was anything but simple.

Under the proposed settlement, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Match must clearly and conspicuously disclose the full terms of any guarantee, stop misrepresenting restrictions or limitations, end punitive actions against users who initiate billing disputes, and provide a straightforward way for subscribers to cancel.

The $14 million will go toward compensating affected customers, with the court’s approval giving the order the force of law.

For compliance and consumer protection professionals, the case is another reminder that regulators are sharpening their focus on subscription practices, particularly “dark patterns” that obscure terms or frustrate cancellations. The FTC’s 3-0 vote in favor of the settlement signals that companies relying on such tactics risk not only financial penalties but also binding operational changes that reshape how they do business.

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