Google Swipes Left, Countersues Tinder Owner Over Fees

Google is suing dating app service Match Group, saying the company has been engaging in bad faith dealings and breach of contract over the legal battle concerning Google Play app store policies.

Google’s suit Monday (July 11) comes in response to a lawsuit last May from Match Group, owner of Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid and other dating apps, which alleged monopolistic billing policies, according to a Bloomberg report.

That caused Google to change some of those policies, and Match Group dropped a request for a restraining order.

Google has now returned fire, though, with an accusation that Match Group wants to pay nothing for using the Play Store, which Google operates. On the Play Store, Google charges a 15% fee on the first $1 million in yearly revenue earned from the app store by U.S. developers.

Google has said Match not paying would put it in an “advantaged position” relative to other app developers that are working with Google.

Now the tech giant is looking to gain “unspecified monetary damages” from Match and a judgment letting it kick Match out of the Play Store permanently.

PYMNTS wrote about Match dropping the restraining order in May, writing that the company did acquiesce to demands as it allowed alternate payments, and scaled back its demand to control user data.

This would mean Google won’t be able to reject or remove Match Group apps from the Google Play Store if they offer alternatives to Google Play Billing. It will also approve Match Group app updates that will give alternatives for payment.

The report said that Google plans to work on what is called “deficiencies” of its own billing system that will let Match Group apps not offering Google Play Billing use Google’s system now.

See also: Match Group Drops Restraining Order Against Google

Match Group also deposited up to $40 million into an escrow account instead of paying Google directly for billing transactions on Android outside of Google Play Billing.

Match says it maintains that the fees Google asks for are illegal, with no other app or product in Google Play paying Google for transactions — but because of a monopoly over the app distribution, Match will “hold funds in escrow and maintain the status quo of Match Group apps in the Google Play Store, until the Court hears and adjudicates the claims filed against Google on May 9 for violating federal and California antitrust laws.”