Oakland The parent company of the dating app Tinder is suing Google parent Alphabet over the payment practices of the Play store. “This lawsuit is a last resort,” said Match chief Shar Dubey. “We tried in good faith to resolve the matter with Google, but the persistence and threats left us with no other choice.“
Some Match dating platforms have been exempt from the payment guidelines for about ten years. Google has now announced that downloads of these apps will be blocked as of June 1 if Match does not exclusively offer the Google payment system and accepts the commission of up to 30 percent, according to the statement of claim to the federal court in the US state of California.
However, the majority of dating app users would prefer the Match payment system, which allows installment payments, bank transfers and other functions that are not offered by Google, it continues. For Match, it is about hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, which must instead be deducted to Google.
Google did not immediately comment on the lawsuit. However, the company has said that developers could bypass the Play Store and that it has cut fees and created other programs to address antitrust concerns. According to Dubey, it is unprofitable to bypass the Play Store. “It’s like saying that you don’t have to take the elevator to get to the 60th floor of a building, you can always climb the outer wall.“
Match’s latest lawsuit joins countless ongoing lawsuits against Google’s payment policies. “Fortnite” manufacturer Epic Games and attorneys general of several US states also consider Google’s practices anti-competitive.
