DALLAS — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit Monday against OkCupid and its corporate affiliate, alleging that the popular dating app secretly shared the photos, locations, and personal information of millions of users with an outside company and then spent more than a decade attempting to conceal it.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas, names Humor Rainbow, Inc., the Dallas-based company that operates OkCupid, and Match Group Americas, LLC, which provides services to Humor Rainbow. Both are subsidiaries of Match Group, Inc., the online dating giant that also owns Tinder, Hinge, and Match.com.
The case centers on a data transfer in September 2014, when OkCupid quietly handed nearly three million user photos, along with demographic and location data, to an unrelated tech startup called Clarifai, Inc.
According to the FTC, OkCupid’s founders had personally invested in Clarifai, and the handover was done as a favor to the startup, not as part of any business arrangement. At the time, OkCupid’s privacy policy stated that personal information would not be shared “except as indicated in this Privacy Policy or when we inform you and give you an opportunity to opt out,” listing only service providers, business partners, and companies within OkCupid’s corporate family as exceptions.
Clarifai fit none of those categories, and no formal data-sharing agreement, usage restrictions, or compensation was involved. Users were never notified or given the chance to opt out.
The FTC alleges that following the 2014 transfer, OkCupid engaged in an extended effort to conceal the sharing. When a news outlet began investigating Clarifai’s use of OkCupid data, company executives drafted statements that obscured the relationship, and OkCupid later told users directly that any suggestion it had shared their data was “false.” The concealment allegedly included attempts to obstruct the FTC’s investigation, ultimately requiring the agency to take OkCupid to federal court to enforce a demand for records.
As part of a proposed settlement, OkCupid and Match Group Americas would be permanently prohibited from misrepresenting their data collection and privacy practices. This includes making false claims about how they collect, use, share, or protect personal data, such as photos, demographic information, and location data, as well as misrepresenting the privacy controls available to users. OkCupid has not publicly commented on the settlement.
