Tinder Owner Match Is Now Facing a DOJ Investigation 

(Bloomberg) -- Online dating company Match Group Inc., which was sued by the Federal Trade Commission earlier this week for allegedly deceiving consumers, is now facing a Justice Department investigation.

Match said Friday in a regulatory filing that it received a grand-jury subpoena on Sept. 26 for documents relating to some of the marketing-related claims in the FTC lawsuit.

Match, which owns Tinder and OKCupid, said it intends to cooperate in the DOJ investigation. A spokesman didn’t respond to a request seeking comment.

The FTC accused Match of tricking consumers by exploiting messages from fraudulent accounts to induce non-subscribers to sign up for subscriptions. The company called the complaint “baseless.”

Match said the FTC last year proposed a $60 million settlement to resolve its investigation but talks ended without an agreement.

To contact the reporter on this story: David McLaughlin in Washington at dmclaughlin9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr, Andrew Pollack

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.