The case in summary Match Group, the company behind Tinder and Hinge, among others, is being sued by six Americans for exploiting singles. The plaintiffs allege that the apps are designed to be addictive and that users are locked into a quest for psychological reward. Match Group rejects the accusations and calls them ridiculous. Professor Faltin Karlsen at Høyskolen Kristiania says it is difficult to find research that supports the claims about addiction to checking apps, but that many users find dating apps exhausting. The plaintiffs are demanding that Match Group be brought to justice. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. 7 out of 10 young Norwegian adults use or have used checking apps such as Tinder, Hinge and Grindr. This is shown by a survey made for news. Lately, we’ve been delving into today’s dating culture. Some of the people we have been in contact with say that they get tired and fed up with dating apps. Like 27-year-old Julie. She says that she has lost faith in love because of Tinder and Hinge, but that she still can’t stop. Now six men from the United States have sued Match Group, the giant company behind the most used dating apps in the world. Is Tinder addictive? The men believe the dating apps take advantage of singles. They are suing Match Group “on behalf of everyone else in the same situation”. The accusation is that apps such as Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid are designed in such a way that people behave like gamblers. An example of a notification that Tinder sends out. Photo: news “Single is locked in a search for psychological reward that Match deliberately makes difficult to achieve”, according to the lawyers for the plaintiffs. Match Group itself says that the accusations are ridiculous. Read what the company replies further down in the case. – One of the main claims in the lawsuit is that you become addicted to using the apps, says Professor Faltin Karlsen at Kristiania University College. Faltin Karlsen researches Norwegians’ use of digital culture. Photo: Haakon Dueland Among other things, he is involved in a project where they take a closer look at dating platforms and their users. According to him, it is difficult to find support for the claims about addiction to checking apps in the research. But he has no doubt that many people find life on the apps exhausting. On and off relationship with dating apps – Users must always be prepared to respond to an inquiry. This can make them very tired. Because they are constantly walking and thinking: “Has something happened now? Will she or he answer me”? An example of a notification that Tinder sends out. Photo: news He says this is one reason why many people use dating apps intensely – before removing the apps from their mobile phones for periods of time. – They simply get a little exhausted by it. It’s a different thing than being addicted. The fact that something is emotionally tiring or exhausting is not an illness. Tinder is the world’s most used dating app. It came in 2012, and has 75 million monthly active users, according to World population review. Norway is on the list of countries with a particularly large number of users. Have you caught up with the case about Kim (23)? He’s on Tinder now and then, but thinks checking in the real world is better. He believes more people should dare to do as he does: believes the company does everything to ensure that singles remain single Match Group had over 860 million dollars in income during the last three months of last year. Part of what they make money from is paying subscribers. Because although many dating apps are free to download and use, features that, for example, enable unlimited swiping or to see who wants to match with you, cost extra. The lawyers for the plaintiffs write that Match Group is secretly doing everything in their power to get paying subscribers – and to keep them in the apps. Match Group had over $860 million in revenue in the last three months of 2023, an overview from Statista shows. Photo: Ksenia Novikova / news Faltin Karlsen believes that this is precisely one of the paradoxes of the business model of dating apps. – It is not in the interests of dating apps that users should find great love, only to then never use the app again. They want to attract new users, but they have an interest in people paying subscriptions over time, says the professor. news’s survey shows that around two-thirds of Norwegian users of checking apps want a long-term relationship, but that only one-third have achieved what they wanted. At the same time, the vast majority have used the checking apps for two years or less: Designed to make money According to NPR, there are two questions that the class action raises. Does Match Group have to reveal the potentially addictive quality of their design? Does the company’s lack of warnings constitute a violation of US consumer laws? Match Group snorts at the whole lawsuit. A spokesperson writes the following in an e-mail to news: – This lawsuit is ridiculous, without any real basis. Our business model is not based on ads or measuring engagement. We work actively to get people on dates every day, also outside of our apps. Those who claim otherwise do not understand the purpose and mission of our industry. The plaintiffs are now demanding that Match Group be brought to court. Have you caught up with these cases? Hi! So glad you’ve read all the way down here! Do you have a dating or love story that others should hear about? Do you have a tip, or something on your mind after reading this case? Then send us an email!
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The company behind Tinder and Hinge, Match Group, is being sued for destroying love – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
