Published
July 2, 2026
The $14 million judgment may fund FTC refunds for Match.com subscribers — but there is no claim form yet, and the FTC will announce any refund program itself.
What Is the Match Group FTC Settlement About?
Match Group, Inc. and Match Group, LLC — the Dallas-based company behind Match.com, OkCupid, Plenty of Fish, and dozens of other dating platforms — agreed to pay $14 million and accept a permanent injunction to resolve the Federal Trade Commission's long-running lawsuit over Match.com's marketing and billing practices. The stipulated order for permanent injunction, monetary judgment, and other relief was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on August 12, 2025, after both sides signed it in July 2025.The FTC sued Match Group in September 2019, alleging that the company used deceptive advertising to sell Match.com subscriptions, buried the conditions of its "six-month guarantee," made cancellation confusing enough that subscribers ended up with unwanted renewals, and cut off paying customers who disputed charges with their banks. Under the stipulated order, Match Group neither admits nor denies the allegations in the complaint.
Status
No Claim Form Yet
$14M paid to the FTC · refunds not yet announced
Claim Deadline
None
Nothing to file — the FTC would contact eligible consumers
Settlement Fund
$14,000,000
Monetary judgment · may fund consumer redress
Proof Required
N/A
No claims process exists at this time
What the FTC Alleged
The FTC's 2019 complaint described five practices it said were deceptive or unfair. First, the agency alleged that until mid-2018, Match.com sent nonsubscribers advertisements — "He just emailed you!" / "Someone's Interested in You!" — touting messages that in many cases came from accounts Match had internally flagged as likely fraudulent. According to the complaint, in some months between 2013 and 2016 more than half of the instant messages and favorites consumers received came from accounts Match identified as fraudulent, and consumers bought 499,691 subscriptions within 24 hours of receiving an ad touting a fraud-flagged communication between June 2016 and May 2018.Second, the FTC alleged that Match delivered messages from fraud-flagged accounts to nonsubscribers while withholding those same messages from paying subscribers until its fraud review finished — exposing new subscribers to romance-scam risk. The complaint says roughly 87.8 percent of the withheld accounts were later confirmed fraudulent.
Third, the agency alleged that Match.com's "match GUARANTEE" — a free six months if you don't "meet someone special" — failed to adequately disclose its conditions. Per the complaint, consumers bought nearly 2.5 million guarantee-eligible subscriptions between 2013 and 2016 but only 32,438 free six-month extensions were awarded, while nearly 1 million guarantee purchasers were billed for another six-month term when their first term auto-renewed.
Fourth, the FTC alleged the cancellation flow was confusing and cumbersome — an internal 2015 presentation quoted in the complaint called it "hard to find, tedious, and confusing," noting members "often think they've cancelled when they have not and end up with unwanted renewals." The agency charged that this violated the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act (ROSCA), which requires a simple way to stop recurring charges. Fifth, the complaint alleged that consumers who disputed charges with their banks and lost had their accounts terminated even though time remained on subscriptions they had paid for.
All of these are allegations from the FTC's complaint. Match Group has not admitted wrongdoing, and the stipulated order states that the defendants neither admit nor deny the complaint's allegations.
Can You Get a Refund?
Not yet — and possibly not at all. This is a government enforcement settlement, not a class action with a claims administrator. The $14 million judgment is paid directly to the FTC, and under the order the money may be deposited into a fund the Commission administers "for consumer relief, such as redress and any attendant expenses." If the FTC decides direct refunds are wholly or partially impracticable, any remaining money is deposited to the U.S. Treasury as a civil penalty.If the FTC does set up a Match.com refund program, it will announce it on its official refunds page and typically contacts eligible consumers directly — you do not need to register anywhere, and there is no fee to receive an FTC refund. The order also requires Match Group to hand over customer information so the Commission can efficiently administer any redress. Be wary of anyone who contacts you claiming they can get you Match.com settlement money for a fee or by asking for your bank login — the FTC never charges for refunds.
What Match Group Must Change
Beyond the money, the stipulated order permanently restrains Match Group across its covered dating services — Match.com, BlackPeopleMeet, BLK, Chispa, Upward, Yuzu, Salams, The League, HER, Stir, OurTime, OkCupid, Archer, and Plenty of Fish — from:- Misrepresenting any material restrictions, limitations, or conditions on a "six-month guarantee" or similar offer;
- Failing to clearly and conspicuously disclose the guarantee's conditions — including, where applicable, that members must maintain an approved public profile photo within the first seven days, message five unique subscribers per month, and redeem the free six months on the progress page during the final week of the initial term;
- Failing to provide simple mechanisms to stop recurring charges on subscriptions sold with a negative option (auto-renewal) feature; and
- Retaliating against consumers who file or threaten to file billing disputes by denying them access to services they paid for.
The order also imposes 10 years of compliance reporting, recordkeeping, and FTC monitoring obligations, and the court retains jurisdiction to enforce it.
Case Background
The FTC filed its complaint on September 25, 2019, under Section 5 of the FTC Act and Section 4 of ROSCA. The case spent nearly six years in litigation in the Northern District of Texas before the parties stipulated to the order resolving all matters in dispute. Match Group waived its rights to appeal and agreed that if it fails to pay, the complaint's factual allegations will be taken as true in any collection proceeding.Auto-renewing subscriptions and hard-to-cancel flows remain one of the most active areas of consumer litigation. If you subscribe to dating apps or other services that renew automatically, related cases on OCA include the Tinder age-pricing class action settlement (Tinder is also owned by Match Group, though it is not among this order's covered services), the Bumble and Badoo dating app settlement, and the Adobe subscription cancellation settlement. You can browse more in our auto-renewal class actions hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is Match Group paying in the FTC settlement?
Match Group, Inc. and Match Group, LLC stipulated to a $14,000,000 monetary judgment in favor of the FTC, payable within 7 days of the court entering the order. Match Group neither admits nor denies the allegations in the FTC's complaint.
Can I file a claim for a Match.com FTC refund?
Not yet. There is no claim form and no settlement website. The $14 million goes to the FTC, which may use it for consumer redress. If the FTC sets up a refund program, it will announce the details on its official refunds page at ftc.gov. Any money not used for consumer relief goes to the U.S. Treasury as a civil penalty.
What did the FTC accuse Match.com of doing?
The FTC's 2019 complaint alleged that Match.com advertised messages from accounts it had flagged as likely fraudulent to sell subscriptions, failed to adequately disclose the conditions of its six-month guarantee, used a confusing multi-step cancellation process in violation of ROSCA, and cut off paid subscribers who lost billing disputes. Match Group neither admits nor denies the allegations.
Which dating apps are covered by the FTC order?
The order's covered services include Match.com, BlackPeopleMeet, BLK, Chispa, Upward, Yuzu, Salams, The League, HER, Stir, OurTime, OkCupid, Archer, and Plenty of Fish.
What does Match Group have to change under the order?
The order permanently bars Match Group from misrepresenting any six-month-guarantee offer, requires clear and conspicuous disclosure of the guarantee's conditions, requires simple mechanisms to cancel subscriptions with negative option (auto-renewal) features, and bars retaliating against consumers who file billing disputes by denying them paid-for services.
Stipulated Order (Court Filing)
The proposed stipulated order for permanent injunction, monetary judgment, and other relief, as filed in FTC v. Match Group, Inc., is embedded below.Sources
- FTC — Match Group, Inc. case page
- FTC — Refunds
- CourtListener — FTC v. Match Group, Inc., No. 3:19-cv-02281 (N.D. Tex.)
For more class actions keep scrolling below.
Settlement Amount
$14,000,000
Case Title
FTC v. Match Group, Inc. and Match Group, LLC
Case Number
3:19-cv-02281-K
Court
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas (Dallas)
Administrator
Federal Trade Commission
Official Website
FTC Refunds Page
