Five Hundred Issues with the S&P 500 — No.498
Match Group, Inc. is an American technology company which owns the world's most popular dating services such as Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Match.com, Plenty Of Fish. Dating services are extremely popular, quickly becoming the main way for people to find partners. Match Group, Inc. as of mid-2025, has roughly 30 million monthly active users across its portfolio in the United States alone, and 80 million globally. That basically means that around 30-40% of U.S. adults have used Match's services at some point. Match Group, Inc. was added to the S&P 500 Index on September 20, 2021.
Weight in the S&P500: 0.01% | Price/Share: ~$31.45 | Approximate Valuation: ~$7.5 billion
It's not a secret to anyone that loneliness is one of the biggest issues in the US/European Countries in the last two decades. The headlines such as "The American Loneliness Epidemic" start appearing more often, the statistics showing that each generation is more lonely than the previous one don't surprise anyone, research into how loneliness affects one's well-being is conducted. While the claims of "epidemic" might be exaggerated, there's broad agreement in public health that loneliness is a major, widespread problem with real consequences. Match Group positions itself as a solution to this problem. One of the most well-known slogans of Hinge is "Designed to be deleted", suggesting that Hinge is meant to help you find that one specific person, to fall in love, not to go on an endless cycle of one-night stands. Insanely noble goal, if you ask me. But are Match Group's apps the one to be trusted? Do they really intend for you to find your long-term partner and delete their app? Do they really help people? And do they solve said problem of modern loneliness or just make the matters worse?
The Predator's Platform
The most notorious case of the Match Group, Inc. in the last few years is the case of Steven Matthews. This case is truly outrageous, and it had quite a wide media coverage with multiple really well-made articles written on the case.
Stephen Matthews, a Denver cardiologist, drugged, sexually assaulted, and raped multiple women he met through dating apps - notably Hinge and Tinder. He would invite women to the bar, where he would drug them, and then drive them to his home, where he would assault them (or he would invite them directly to his home, where he would offer them the drugged drink). All victims reported having sporadic memories of the evening after they had drinks with Matthews. Some were able to get out of the bar and get a taxi, some would regain consciousness being naked in bed with Matthews. He then tried to "gaslight" them, trying to convince them that whatever happened was their fault, suggesting they drank too much or couldn't hold their liquor.
His assault streak lasted for 4 years, from 2019 to 2023. All victims were found by Matthews on dating apps.
He was first reported on September 28, 2020, a woman says she met Matthews via Hinge and alleged she was raped after a date. She reported him to Hinge. Despite the report, Matthews continued using the app.
Throughout 2020-2023 Matthews been report to Hinge MULTIPLE times. Some sources claim that up to 15 women would report him. Eventually he would be banned on the platform. But, Matthews was able to easily by-pass the ban. He kept everything the same, he kept all his photos, he kept his descriptions, he even kept his phone number, the only thing he had to change was his email and it was enough to keep him on a platform.
The situation became even more disturbing in the fall 2022. During that time Matthews was being promoted on Hinge as a Standout, a popular profile, an algorithm's pick for women of Denver. Quick reminder, that by this time Matthews was already reported for rape multiple times, and once was banned on Hinge.
Somewhat public awareness about Matthews came not from Match Group, but from Facebook. In December 2022, a thread on Facebook become locally-viral in Denver where women were sharing information they, themself, had with Matthews, or their friends had with him. During that time Matthews still stayed on Match Group apps.
He was finally arrested on March 27, 2023. On August 13, 2024, a Denver jury found Matthews guilty on 35 count, including multiple sexual assault charges and second-degree assault. Eleven women were identified as victims in the criminal trial. There were more women who came forward during the investigation, but 11 were formally part of the conviction case. On October 25, 2025, Matthews was sentenced to 158 years to life in prison - the absolute maximum he could have possibly get.
Later that year, on December 16, 2025, a civil lawsuit was filed by six Matthew's victims, against Match Group, arguing the company failed to protect users. It's hard to deny that if company acted adequately on the first report back in 2020, it's possible that there would be much fewer victims. It's important note, that during the trial against Matthews, Match Group didn't make it easy for the Denver prosecutors to convict him. A search warrant was issued for Hinge in July 2023. Two months later, prosecutors were still empty-handed - with the judge in the case asking at a hearing whether he needed to start "dragging people in to get stuff done".
Overall, the safety system on Match Group's apps are flawed. As was demonstrated with Matthew's case it was very easy to by-pass the ban on those apps. But it's not the only issue. One of the biggest and known defects of reporting system on dating apps, is that sometimes the ability to report a user once someone unmatched them is removed, meaning abusive users could evade detection by simply unmatching.
And when the reported case is finally reviewed by moderator it's not that simple. At Hinge, moderators reviewing flagged profiles can handle up to 60 complaints per hour - about one minute per case, according to two employees and a screenshot of the company policy. Those reports include everything - from racist language to sexual assault allegations, while moderators also decide on bans and on escalating serious issues. At OkCupid, moderators handling complex cases like sexual assault face a quota of 15 complaints per hour, giving them roughly four minutes to review both parties' profiles and messages and respond. While many complaints can be resolved quickly, complicated cases often cause moderators to fall behind their hourly targets.
To anyone, it's obvious that this system is inadequate - from the easy-to-bypass bans to moderators trying to meet their hourly quota. But I wouldn't hold any high hopes for the said civil lawsuit to succeed. The lawsuit faces an uphill battle against section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a 1996 law that grants online platforms immunity from liability for most user-generated content. Most likely Match Group is going to evade any charges.
But as was said, the case of Stephen Matthews got a huge media coverage and the public outrage is there. So Match Group has to address the safety concerns in some way, right?
Arbitrary Enforcement
If you go on Reddit right now, and try to look for any MatchGroup-related subreddit, alongside some basic stuff, like Tinder itself, TinderStories etc., you will find one of the most prolific subreddits for this theme - r/SwipeHelper. While it doesn't have the same number of visitors as mentioned Tinder-subreddit (1.1M to 50k), it has a tonne of daily posts. r/SwipeHelper is "a subreddit exchanging advanced advice for online apps such as Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, and more." In reality, it mostly focuses on people sharing about unreasonable and unexplained bans they got on Match Group's apps.
Many users report an insane amount of bans that started to occur in late 2025. People get no clear explanation on reasons for getting banned, appeal process is long and communication with support team makes you desire more. While the Match Group didn't give any comments on the insane ban-streak and didn't announce any changes in their ban policies, I think, it safe to assume that it's some sort of a response to Stephen Matthew's case.
It's impossible to prove, but it seems very fitting that after a huge public case regarding customer safety concerns, Match Group decided to pull-up a ban-hammer. It seems, that for Match Group "fixing" apps' safety issues, means to ban anyone on the first report.
There's a term, well-known to anyone who used dating services for a long-period of time - Revenge Reporting. Anything can happen on a first date, you may be disappointed in each other, you might have expected a different person on a date, you may have had a hot argument on a current political issue, or maybe the person you went on a date with is a narcissist or sociopath. What if after such a bad date that person can ruin the app for you? Revenge Reporting is nothing new, it's been the case since forever. But now the single report after an unsuccessful date lead to immediate ban. Match Group cannot afford any more public safety scandal, so their answer is simple - ban everyone and figure things out later.
However, that's not the only topic is discussed on the subreddit - another interesting one is Shadowban. User reports that they subscribed to Tinder Platinum. After a while, their account suddenly went dead - no matches, no likes - even though they were still paying for Platinum. To test it, they created a second account using the same photos, bio, and location. That account started getting likes within hours. They also made a female test account, which appeared immediately on their Platinum account. But their Platinum profile never showed up on the female account - even after swiping through everyone within 5 km. It became clear Platinum account was being suppressed while user was still being charged. When they contacted support, they denied any issue.
And the paragraph above is not the only example. There are multiple posts complaining that paying for premium subscription turned out to be more of a net-negative. While we are at it, why don't we speak on Match Group business concept as a whole?
Preying On Insecurities
Let's return to that "The dating app designed to be deleted" slogan. How is it supposed to work? The entire business concept is self-contradictory. If the app is designed for you to find your one and forever partner how is it supposed to generate revenue to the share holders? The company should be considered charity and for non-profit for it to be true, and not to be publicly tradable as a part of the S&P 500 index.
And it's known that most of users use dating apps to meet a long-term partner, up to 44%, while 40% look for casual dating and the rest looking for casual sex.
So, how does dating apps aim to help you build long, meaningful relations?
They don't. Their goal is to make you an addict. In 2024, six people filed a federal lawsuit in San Francisco accusing Match Group of deliberately designing apps like Tinder, Hinge, and The League to be addictive.
The complaint said the apps use game-like features, hidden algorithms, push notifications, and paid perks (like unlimited swipes or "roses") to keep users chasing matches - comparing it to gambling psychology. Plaintiffs argued this traps people in a pay-to-play loop that prioritizes profit over actually helping users find relationships.
Match Group denied the claims, calling the lawsuit "ridiculous" and saying their goal is to get people on dates and off the apps.
The lawsuit went nowhere.
But interestingly, the next year, CEO of Match Group, Inc., Spencer Rascoff wrote an open letter on his LinkedIn, where he said: "Too often, our apps have felt like a numbers game rather than a place to build real connections..."
One more interesting fact, prior to Rascoff, Bernard Kim served as the CEO of Match Group. Before Match Group Bernard Kim spent 10 years in Electronic Arts as a Senior Vice President of Mobile Publishing. In the company that notorious for its pay-to-win and gambling mechanics.
Overall, online dating is subjective. Many people find it positive, many people say that it's the worst thing that happened to them and their mental health, completely ruining their body-image and self-esteem.
More About Match Group
There still may be many things that can be told about the concept of dating services itself - how they artificially adjust the ratio of females/males on dating market, how they are responsible for insane standards for both genders, how they ridicule your persona down to a bunch of tags, not caring about you as a person and basing your promotion chance on the app according to it. But this all cannot be reliably proven.
What is certain, it is that romantic part of life is incredibly important to any human. Ask yourself this: do you really want to outsource this intimate aspect of your life to people who don't care about your safety or well-being, but instead view you as nothing more than a monthly revenue-generating machine?
That's it for Match Group, Inc. - one of the five hundred companies composing the S&P 500.
This article is not financial advice and not an investment thesis. I'm not a professional journalist and do not aim to be one. I don't seek to be a reliable source. The text is based on publicly available information that can be found online. It's intentionally biased but documentable.
This is anti-corporate pamphlet - deliberate reputational vandalism created for cultural critique and entertainment.
The goal is to dismantle the myth of the S&P 500 by inspecting every company that composes it.
Look into SPX6900. Flip the stock market. 6900>500.
