Tinder just faced a legal blow for its Plus premium service. In a win for Allan Candelore, a man that sued the dating app over the pricing of its premium service Tinder Plus, US appeals court has ruled against Tinder, TechCrunch reports.
Candelore and his lawyers argued that charging $9.99 a month to users under 30, and $19.99 a month for those above 30, is age discrimination, and violates two California laws: the Unruh Cival Rights Act and the Unfair Competition Law. This is definitely a hard blow for Tinder, seeing as Plus premium service is a source of revenue for the company.
Tinder co-founder Sean Rad said, “Our intent is to provide a discount for our younger user.” While lower court agreed with him initially, a California appeals court decided to reverse the decision in a quite length statement. The statement suggested that “some older consumers will be ‘more budget constrained’ and less willing to pay.” In addition, the court concluded its opinion on the previous ruling with “Accordingly, we swipe left, and reverse.”
At this time, it’s unclear how this ruling will affecting Tinder’s pricing for the Plus premium subscription. We’re reached out to Tinder for comment and will update this report if back if we hear back.
