Addicted to Love: Class Action Brought Against Dating App Company Alleging Addictive Features
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, a group of six dating app users filed a class action lawsuit on February 14, 2024 against MatchGroup Inc. (“Match”), a parent company that owns several dating apps including Tinder, Hinge, and The League.[1] Filed in California federal court, the lawsuit alleges that the dating platforms are intentionally designed with game-like features to addict users and ensure continued subscription payment rather than help establish relationships as advertised.[2]
The Plaintiffs, residing in California, New York, Georgia, and Florida, are suing Match for alleged violations of consumer protection and product liability statutes, breaches of warranties, and deception.[3] Plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief requiring Match to stop their current “deceptive” business practices, as well as monetary recovery of the premium consumers paid for the platforms due to the false and deceptive marketing and advertising.[4] Match has responded stating the lawsuit is “ridiculous” and has “zero merit.”[5]
Match Apps and Addictive Features
The complaint alleges that Match designs their apps with “recognized dopamine-manipulating” features that “gamify the platforms and transforms users into gamblers locked in a search for phycological rewards that Match makes elusive.”[6] One feature that the complaint flagged as purposefully addictive in design is the content presentation format.[7] Potential matches are introduced to users through a card-deck swiping mechanism where you cannot see the next potential match until you swipe. Admittedly, Twitter Co-Founder, Jonathan Badeen did state that the swiping design of apps was “inspired” by an experiment in 1948 that found that uncertain rewards trigger stronger phycological responses than expected consistent ones.[8]. Not knowing who the next match will be and whether or not it will be better than who they are currently viewing conditions users to keep swiping.[9]
Secondly, the complaint alleges Match use of push notifications prey on users fear of missing out on any potential matches with “strategic notification system” designed to “capture and retain attention at all times of day.”[10] Lastly, Match uses incentive rewards which punish users from disengaging and rewards compulsive users.[11] The more time you spend on the app, the more engagement you receive and the more your profile is shown to other users.[12] If you are not consistently engaging you are not shown as often, minimizing your engagement. Tinder will even hide your profile from potential matches if you have not engaged with the app in over 24 hours.[13]
Whether or not these features will be found to be intentionally addictive is highly contested. Among psychologists terms like “addictive” can be controversial when applied to non-substances, such as video games or social media.[14]. Some researchers argue that a notification highlighting a new match Tinder results in a burst of dopamine that will result in more dopamine-chasing behavior similar to addiction.[15] Others, such as Professor of Media Science at Boston University, Kathryn Coduto, “hesitate to act like users don’t have a sense of control or determination over the technology, at the end of the day.”[16] Regardless of whether or not the courts find Match products to be addictive, the outcome of the case will heavily depend on the legal interpretation of consumer protection laws.
Consumer Protection: Legal Elements
The complaint states that Match is misrepresenting their products, engaging in deceptive marketing practices, and failing to warn users about the addictive nature of the apps in violation of various consumer protection laws.[17] Plaintiffs are attempting to sue Match under the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act (CLRA) section 1750, the California False Advertising Law (“FAL”) Business and Professions Code Section 17500, California Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) Business and Professions Business and Professions Code Section 17200, New York General Business Law Section 349, 350, Georgia Deceptive Trade Practice Law OCGA Section 10-1-372, Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, FL Stat. section 501.201.[18]
Varying to some degree these state consumer protection laws focus on protecting consumers from false advertising and manipulative practices intended to coerce buyers into purchasing products.[19] The complaint argues that Match is misrepresenting their apps and subscriptions as “effective tools” for establishing and sustaining “off-app relationships” when they are actually designed to “coerce subscriptions and retain users” through addictive and undisclosed product features.[20] An example of this is the amount of likes you have. Without a subscription, Match’s apps limit the amount of people you can “like” or swipe on in a day. A subscription gives you access to unlimited likes “thereby exacerbating a vicious cycle of reinforcement addiction.”[21] The complaint alleges Match’s “predatory” business model harms users when they are coerced into purchasing subscriptions to further enable compulsive use, thereby extricating “a vicious cycle of addiction reinforcement.”[22] The complaint alleges users are suffering damages through being coerced to spend money on these subscriptions as well as “secondary consequences” to the mental health of users including “upward social comparisons, decreased self-esteem, dissatisfaction with current relationships, and feelings of loneliness and depression.”[23]
Additionally, the complaint alleges Match has knowingly and willingly failed to disclose that their products are highly addictive in nature and design.[24] The Plaintiffs argue this nondisclosure is of intentionally addictive product features is a violation of various false advertisement and unfair competition laws.[/mfn]See CBS Broadcasting Inc., Class-action Lawsuit Claims Tinder, Hinge Dating Apps Designed to Addict Users, CBS News Bay Area, (Feb. 15, 2024, 1:10 PM PST), https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/class-action-lawsuit-claims-tinder-hinge-dating-apps-designed-to-addict-users/ [https://perma.cc/8L3J-L63B].[/mfn].
Technology Addiction as a Growing Legal Debate
There has been a larger legal debate taking hold over whether or not social media and technology can be classified as addicting in a way that warrants legal recovery. The legal action against Match Group joins a new wave of lawsuits brought by states against tech giants, including Google, Instagram owner Meta, and TikTok, in an attempt to hold platforms accountable for exacerbating the youth mental health crisis.[25] It will be interesting to see how courts define and evaluate liability for addiction and mental health consequences stemming from technologies such as social media and dating apps.
Footnotes
