| | | | | | Tell Tinder: It's time for meaningful transparency into your pricing algorithms. Tinder is charging its customers unfairly, using their sensitive information for personalised pricing and charging some people almost 500% more.
Hello,
Dating platform Tinder is unfairly charging some customers more when setting prices — and it is using their personal data to do so.
Mozilla partnered with Consumers International, a global consumer advocacy organisation, to study Tinder’s algorithmic pricing model, and we found shocking evidence: Tinder uses sensitive personal information to charge app users up to 5x the price – for the same service.1 Further, users over 30 were likely to pay a whopping 65.3% more than users 18-29 for a 12 month Tinder Plus subscription.
Even if you don't use Tinder or other dating apps, we need to hold Tinder to account to send a strong message that we won't stand for personal data being used to price-gouge some people. Tinder is abusing the trust of its users by cashing in on their sensitive data in a way that they didn’t meaningfully consent to in their attempt to find love. Making this public, we can push Tinder to do the right thing and give meaningful transparency into its pricing algorithm. Tell Tinder: It's time for meaningful transparency into your pricing algorithms. In the research study, hundreds of mystery shoppers in the USA, Brazil, India, South Korea, New Zealand and the Netherlands were asked to share the data they provided Tinder through the registration process, and the prices they were quoted by the app.
We had a suspicion that something might be going on — studies from consumer organization CHOICE in Australia also found unfair pricing.2
If Tinder cares about fairness, it needs to give researchers, consumer advocates and policy makers meaningful transparency into its pricing algorithm. Show us how it works, why it’s charging some people so much more — and what the company will do to fix it. Will you join our campaign today? Tell Tinder: It's time for meaningful transparency into your pricing algorithms.
Thank you,
Christian and the rest of the Mozilla team
References: “New Research: Tinder’s Opaque, Unfair Pricing Algorithm Can Charge Users Up to Five-Times More For Same Service,” Mozilla, 8 Feb, 2022 Saimi Jeong, “Tinder charges older people more,” CHOICE, 11 Aug 2020
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