Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with dating app operator OkCupid (operated by Humor Rainbow, Inc.) and its affiliate Match Group Americas, resolving allegations that OkCupid violated Section 5 of the FTC Act by sharing users’ personal information — including nearly three million photographs, geolocation data, and demographic information — with an unrelated third party in a manner that directly contradicted OkCupid’s published privacy policy. OkCupid’s privacy policy had expressly promised users that their personal information would only be shared with service providers, business partners, or affiliates of the company.
The FTC alleged that OkCupid quietly granted a financially connected but contractually unrelated third party access to this data without any formal or contractual restrictions governing how the third party could use the information, and without informing users or giving them an opportunity to opt out.
Under the proposed 20-year consent order, OkCupid and Match are permanently prohibited from misrepresenting the extent to which they collect, maintain, use, disclose, delete, or protect personal information; the purposes for which they handle such data; and the function of privacy controls or choices presented to consumers. The order also includes acknowledgment, compliance reporting, and recordkeeping requirements.
Click here to read the FTC’s case page for OkCupid/Match.
Click here to read the stipulated consent order.
