VIRGINIA – Swipe right. Swipe left. Again. And again. And again.
Hundreds of potential love matches are in the palm of your hand. Or at least that’s what dating apps want you to think, according to a new lawsuit filed in federal court on Valentine’s Day.
The class action lawsuit alleges that popular dating apps Tinder, Hinge, and The League, all under parent company Match Group, are “designed to be addictive.” The lawsuit claims the apps are advertised “...as effective tools for establishing off-app relationships while secretly doing everything in its power to capture and sustain paying subscribers and keep them on-app.”
10 News spoke with Dr. James Ivory, a professor of media studies at Virginia Tech. He said it’s hard to prove at what point social media or dating apps go from entertaining to addicting.
“I think whenever we talk about addiction, it’s a real fraught term and we see a lot of disagreement about it,” said Ivory. ″There’s certainly not much room for disagreement that a lot of social media apps are designed to get people to use them more, to get people to try to stay on them, to reward them for staying on them. Whether that’s psychologically or in a more tangible way. It’s a little more difficult to say whether that constitutes fulminating a behavioral addiction.”
The lawsuit goes on to say that “Match intentionally designs the Platforms with addictive, game-like design features, which lock users into a perpetual pay-to-play loop that prioritizes corporate profits over its marketing promises and customers’ relationship goals.”
Match released the following response:
“This lawsuit is ridiculous and has zero merit. Our business model is not based on advertising or engagement metrics. We actively strive to get people on dates every day and off our apps.”
Ivory said that if the lawsuit is successful, it could change the way people use dating apps. But he said the outcome is difficult to predict.
“Clearly, the way social media are structured are designed to keep people using them, for commercial reasons and others,” said Ivory. “As long as there are applications trying to make money with advertising, they’re going to be trying to get you to spend time with them. I think this is something that’s here to stay. It may or may not be a big problem, depending on who you ask. But it’s something we’re going to have to learn to live with and learn to have healthy lives around.”