Match Group will pay $650,000 and rewrite how it talks about safety after New Jersey’s Attorney General accused the company of misleading users about criminal background screening on its dating apps. The settlement, announced by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General on September 2, 2026, covers Match, Tinder, Hinge, Plenty of Fish, and OurTime, among other Match Group brands used by millions of New Jersey singles. The state alleges the company violated the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and the state’s Internet Dating Safety Act by overstating how thoroughly it screens members for violent or sexual criminal histories.
What New Jersey Says Match Got Wrong
According to the Attorney General’s office, Match’s public disclosures gave users a false sense of security about who they might be matched with, without clearly explaining the limits of background screening, how often records get updated, or which convictions actually disqualify someone from the platform. Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in the announcement that “New Jerseyans who use online dating platforms deserve transparency about whether convicted sex offenders and other violent criminals could be among those contacting them.” Christopher Peterson, the acting director of the state’s Division of Consumer Affairs, added that “dating platforms must provide users with the information they need to make informed choices about who they meet and communicate with online.”
What Match Now Has to Change
Beyond the $650,000 payment, the consent order requires Match Group to overhaul its safety disclosures within 150 days, in bold text no smaller than 12-point type. The new disclosures must explain exactly how criminal background screenings work, how frequently the underlying data is refreshed, whether people with convictions can still message other members, and which specific offenses result in a user being barred from the service. The order also requires plain-language notices about the real limits of background checks, including the risk of outdated databases and the possibility that a determined user could circumvent screening entirely.
New Jersey isn’t the first state to take this kind of action against a major dating platform. Match Group rival Bumble reached a similar settlement with the same New Jersey office over nearly identical allegations, suggesting regulators are treating vague safety marketing across the entire dating app industry as a pattern worth correcting rather than a one-off problem at a single company. For anyone swiping on a platform that advertises background checks as a safety feature, the message from New Jersey regulators is blunt: read exactly what the screening does and doesn’t cover, because “background checked” has been doing more marketing work than actual verification work.
