The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Match.com, an online dating company, alleging that the company’s advertising and automatic payment policies violated the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA).
The complaint alleges that Match.com deceived potential customers by sending advertisements that said a user of Match.com had indicated interest in the potential customer. However, oftentimes these advertisements were forwarding messages from users who signed up with Match.com to scam other users. Furthermore, once a user had enrolled after seeing these advertisements, Match.com’s subscription renewal process made it difficult for users to unsubscribe. The FTC contends that these business practices violate the FTC Act and ROSCA in five different ways:
First, until mid-2018, Defendant sent consumers misleading advertisements that tout communications from persons Defendant identified as potentially fraudulent users of Match.com and led consumers to believe that the communications are from persons interested in establishing a dating relationship with them. Second, until mid-2018, Defendant exposed consumers to the risk of fraud by providing recent subscribers access to communications that Defendant knew were likely to have been sent by persons engaging in fraud. Third, until mid-2019, Defendant guaranteed certain consumers a free six-month subscription renewal if they fail to ‘meet someone special’ but failed to disclose the requirements of its ‘guarantee’ adequately. Fourth, Defendant has misled consumers with a confusing and cumbersome cancellation process that causes consumers to believe they have canceled their subscriptions when they have not. Fifth, until mid-2019, when consumers disputed charges relating to any of these practices and lose the dispute, Defendant denied consumers access to paid-for services.
The Commission vote on whether to file the lawsuit was 4-0-1 in favor, with one commissioner recusing. The lawsuit, which was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas Dallas Division, seeks a permanent injunction against Match.com’s deceptive business practices as well as civil penalties and damages to affected consumers.
