You might be eligible to get a part of $60 million settlement — if you’ve used Tinder in the past
Popular online dating app Tinder has agreed to pay $60.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit in the state of California that claimed it charged older users more than younger users for its premium services and subscriptions. According to the suit, the app unfairly charged users over 28 more for its Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold subscriptions, violating the state's laws. While the Match Group-owned platform denied any wrongdoing, it agreed to settle the case, and part of the payout is to the affected users in the state.
What is the lawsuit about?
The lawsuit alleged that Tinder violated California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act and Unfair Competition Law by charging older users more than younger users when they opted for premium subscriptions. The suit was filed in 2015 on behalf of user Allan Candelore, who accused the dating platform of discriminating against older users based on their age, according to classaction.org. “Tinder has brazenly announced and employed a multi-tiered pricing plan that treats consumers unequally based solely on their age,” the original lawsuit said. Under the terms of the agreement, the platform did not admit any wrongdoing, but it agreed to pay $60.5 million to resolve the class action suit.
Who is eligible for a payment?
As per the lawsuit, over 260,000 users are expected to be eligible for a share of the settlement. It will benefit users who purchased its Plus or Gold subscriptions in California on or after March 2, 2015, when they were over the age of 29, or on/after March 2, 2016, when they were over 28. The affected individuals have until April 18 to specify how they would like to receive the payment. As per the official documents, users can choose PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, ACH, or a mailed check on the settlement website to receive their payments. The payments are expected to vary depending on how much they paid for the two premium subscriptions, the settlement notice added.
Those who haven't received a class member notification need to submit their verification online or mail it by August 19. Furthermore, individuals have until April 8 to either opt out of the suit and not be a plaintiff or object to the settlement in court. The final hearing on the approval of the settlement is scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
This marks another major settlement from a corporation where users are entitled to get a piece of the funds. Earlier, energy drink company ZOA, which is backed by famous actor/wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, agreed to pay $3 million to settle a suit that alleged the company mislabelled its products. The energy drink maker boasted its products didn't have added preservatives, but the suit alleged that the drinks contained citric acid and ascorbic acid, which function as chemical preservatives. With this, buyers were entitled to get up to $150 if they had purchased the allegedly mislabelled products.
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