Swipe Right on Compliance: What the $14M Match Group FTC Settlement Teaches About Love, Lies, and Legal Advice
- East West General Counsel
- Aug 12
- 2 min read
The $14 Million Breakup You Didn’t See Coming
Match Group — parent company of Match.com, Tinder, OkCupid, Hinge, PlentyOfFish, and other digital dating haunts — just got dumped by the Federal Trade Commission for $14 million over deceptive practices.
The FTC’s 2019 allegations read like a dating profile you should’ve swiped left on:
💔 Misleading “six-month guarantee” — sounded dreamy, but the fine print was a dealbreaker.
💔 Ghosting with billing — users who disputed charges found themselves locked out of accounts faster than a bad date slipping out the back door.
💔 The never-ending relationship — trying to cancel was like telling someone, “It’s over,” and they respond with, “Let’s just talk about it over dinner… forever.”
The New Relationship Rules (a.k.a. the Settlement Terms)
Match Group agreed to:
✅ Stop the deceptive advertising and hard-to-find breakup buttons.✅ Be upfront about the real terms of “free” subscription offers.✅ Quit punishing users for billing disputes.✅ Create a smooth, drama-free cancellation process.
The FTC will use the $14 million to give affected users some cash — perhaps the first time in history someone’s been paid for a bad dating experience.
What Went Wrong (and How This Could’ve Been Avoided)
This wasn’t just a fling gone bad — it was a long-term pattern of ignoring the basics of a healthy relationship with customers:
Say what you mean, mean what you say.
Keep your promises.
Don’t make someone beg to leave.
A compliance-savvy outside general counsel could have saved Match from this messy public breakup by:
💌 Writing advertising copy that’s as honest as your grandma’s dating advice.💌 Making cancellation as simple as a polite “unmatch.”💌 Ensuring dispute policies don’t feel like revenge texting.💌 Reviewing every “guarantee” so it’s more meet-cute, less courtroom drama.
The Moral of the Story
In business (and in love):
Be transparent.
Communicate clearly.
Make parting ways painless.
Because nothing kills the romance faster than a regulator swiping left — and sending you the bill.
If you want your business relationships to stay in “happily ever after” territory, bring in experienced compliance counsel before the FTC becomes more upset with your lack of effort than your ex..
At East West General Counsel, we make sure your terms are clear, your policies are fair, and your cancellations are smooth, so the only thing you ghost is bad publicity.
💬 Have you ever seen a company botch the “breakup” so badly? Or is this just another case of Big Tech getting a reality check?
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