March 30 (Reuters) - Match Group agreed to settle a U.S. Federal Trade Commission lawsuit claiming it gave an outside company unauthorized access to personal data belonging to millions of users of the OkCupid dating app.
The FTC said OkCupid users were never told their information - including nearly 3 million photos, demographic information and location data - would be shared in 2014 with Clarifai, a facial recognition technology company, contrary to OkCupid's privacy policies.
Monday's settlement in Dallas federal court prohibits Match from misrepresenting the privacy of user information, and requires the Dallas-based company to certify compliance.
Match and OkCupid neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing, and could face civil fines for future violations. The settlement requires court approval.
A spokesperson for OkCupid said it has strengthened its privacy practices, and the alleged conduct "does not reflect how OkCupid operates today."
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Mark Porter)
Match Group, Inc., through its portfolio companies, is a provider of digital technologies designed to help people make connections. The Company’s global portfolio of brands includes Tinder, Hinge, Match, Meetic, OkCupid, Pairs, Plenty Of Fish, Azar, BLK, and more, each built to increase its users' likelihood of connecting with others. Its segments include Tinder, Hinge, Evergreen & Emerging, and MG Asia. Tinder is an online dating platform with swipe technology. It offers Tinder Plus, Tinder Gold, or Tinder Platinum subscriptions. Hinge is an application focused on millennial and younger generations in English-speaking countries and several other European markets. It offers two premium subscriptions: Hinge+ and HingeX. MG Asia brands primarily focus on serving various Asian and Middle Eastern markets. MG Asia's brands are Azar and The Pairs. Match is an online dating application, and Meetic, a European online dating brand, are included in the Evergreen & Emerging segment.
This super rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (4 months), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Investor
Investor
This super composite rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (1 year), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
-
Global
Global
This composite rating is the result of an average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Valuation (Composite), Financial Estimates Revisions (Composite), Consensus (Composite) and Visibility (Composite). The company must be covered by at least 4 of these 5 ratings for the calculation to be carried out. We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
-
Quality
Quality
This composite rating is the result of an average of rankings based on the following ratings: Returns (Composite), Profitability (Composite) and Quality of Financial Reporting (Composite), and Financial Health (Composite). The company must be covered by at least 2 of these 3 ratings for the calculation to be performed. We recommend that you carefully read the associated descriptions.
-
ESG MSCI
ESG MSCI
The MSCI ESG score assesses a company’s environmental, social, and governance practices relative to its industry peers. Companies are rated from CCC (laggard) to AAA (leader). This rating helps investors incorporate sustainability risks and opportunities into their investment decisions.