Match Groupthe parent company of Tinder e Hingesued Google for violating antitrust laws with payments on Play Store. In fact, once again at the center of the discussion are in-app payments. Match Group CEO explains that this is a “last resort” but the company couldn’t do anything else, since Google has threatened to remove the dating app from 1 June.
Tinder sues Google for Play Store payments
At the center of the controversy, Google’s policies announced in the fall of 2020. Google had “made it clear” that it would require all developers who sell beni and services with in-app purchases to use the Play Store payment system. Google had set the deadline to implement this measure on September 30, 2021, and then extend the deadline to June 1, 2022.
Match Group claims, however, that Google had “previously assured” that it would allow Tinder and Hinge to keep their payment system. Instead, it now says that Google has threatened to remove apps from the Play Store starting June 1st if they don’t implement payments.
In the text of the complaint, we read: “Ten years ago Match Group was a partner of Google. Today we are his hostages“.
Match Group CEO Shar Dubey explains, “This complaint is a measure of last resort. We have found, in good faith, to solve these problems with Google, but their insistence and their threats of remove our branded apps from the Google Play Store on June 1st they left us with no choice but to take legal action ”.
Google has stated in this regard that Match Group pays one 15% commission, one of the lowest of the “major platforms”. He also explained that the fact that Android is an open system allows you to use other application stores or alternative methods if you do not want to pay the commission.
This legal action, however, rings in unison with other legal actions against Google and Apple. And the fact that currently in the United States Senate a law is being studied for open the market for in-app payments sta making Apple and Google run for cover. Google in particular began testing gods in March alternative in-app payments with Spotify. But at the moment the situation is still complex. We will keep you updated on this.