OkCupid Settles FTC Case Alleging Misrepresentation of Privacy Policies

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a proposed settlement that will prohibit OkCupid and Match Group Americas from misrepresenting their privacy policies.

The proposed settlement results from the FTC’s allegations that OkCupid shared users’ personal information, including photos and location information, with an unrelated third party in violation of its privacy policies, the FTC said in a Monday (March 30) press release.

The FTC’s complaint alleged that OkCupid violated its own privacy policy at the time, which said that it may share users’ personal information with service providers, business partners or other entities within its family of companies, or when it informed consumers and gave them the chance to opt out, according to the release.

However, the complaint alleged, OkCupid shared nearly 3 million user photos and other information with a third party that did not belong to one of those categories, did not inform consumers and did not give them a chance to opt out, the release said.

The complaint alleged that OkCupid did so because the company’s founders were financial investors in the third party and that since September 2014, the company worked to conceal and deny that it shared the information, per the release.

“The FTC enforces the privacy promises that companies make,” Christoper Mufarrige, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in the release. “We will investigate, and where appropriate, take action against companies that promise to safeguard your data but fail to follow through — even if that means we have to enforce our Civil Investigative Demands in court.”

Reached by PYMNTS, an OkCupid spokesperson said in an emailed statement: “While we do not admit any wrongdoing, we have settled this matter with the FTC with no monetary penalty to resolve an issue from 2014 and more forward. The alleged conduct at issue does not reflect how OkCupid operates today. Over the years, we have further strengthened our privacy and data governance to ensure we meet the expectations of our users.”

Match Group did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

In some other recent, separate developments having to do with privacy and security, the FTC sent letters to 13 data brokers reminding them of their obligations to comply with a law that prohibits them from providing personally identifiable sensitive data about Americans to any foreign adversary, settled allegations that General Motors and OnStar collected and sold geolocation data and driving behavior data without consumers’ informed consent, and settled allegations that Disney allowed personal data to be collected from children.