SANTA MONICA—On Wednesday, June 7, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that Match Group Inc., an online dating company, will pay $2 million to settle a civil lawsuit that alleges the company charged customers for automatic renewal without their expressed consent.
“Consumers should be protected from practices that deceptively and unfairly force them to pay for something they don’t want,” said District Attorney George Gascón. “We want companies to thrive, but they should be mindful to not abuse technology tools to violate consumer protections.”
Match Group agreed to clearly disclose its automatic renewal terms and to get consumers affirmative consent to the terms through a checkbox before charging for an automatic renewal or continuous service. Customers must also be given an easy option to cancel their service. The company has not admitted to any wrongdoing.
The case is among investigations conducted by the California Automatic Renewal Task Force (CART). Members of CART include the District Attorneys of Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and Santa Barbara counties, and the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office.
