Match Group is suing Google over Android’s in-app payment monopoly

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Match Group, the company behind popular dating apps such as Match and OkCupid, is suing Google over its restrictive billing policies on the Play Store. Match Group claims in its complaint that the market for distributing apps on the Android platform was illegally monopolized by the likes of Google and they took a cut of the payments.

Match Group has filed a complaint against Apple, accusing the company of anti-competitive behavior by demanding a 30 percent commission on in-app purchases. Although the final ruling was mixed, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rodgers was particularly skeptical of the payment monopoly claims, saying that Apple has the right to license its intellectual property with a fee.

The company made it clear in 2020 that it wants all apps selling digital goods to use its billing system, despite the fact that it always required certain types of in-app payments to be carried out through its billing service. This allows the company to collect up to a 30 percent commission. The percentage was slashed to 15 percent for the first $1 million a developer makes in March 2021. Match Group accuses Google of misleading developers about its payment policies.

Match Group says that it was lured to its platform by assurances that it could offer users a choice over how to pay for services.

Match Group asserts that a so-called app store, which it says would cause higher prices and less revenue for app developers, would be imposed by Google.

Match Group is a part of the Coalition of App Fairness, a group of companies. It wants to fight policies that it deems anticompetitive, such as Apple's rule that bars developers from using third-party payment processors. In March, it was announced that the company would start testing a way for developers to use their own payment systems. It's not clear if the commission will still be taken or how much it will charge.

Dan Jackson issued a statement in response to the complaint.

This is just a continuation of Match Group’s self-interested campaign to avoid paying for the significant value they receive from the mobile platforms they’ve built their business on. Like any business, we charge for our services, and like any responsible platform, we protect users against fraud and abuse in apps. Match Group is currently attracting regulator concerns over things like deceptive subscription practices, and with this filing they continue to put money ahead of user protection. Match Group’s apps are eligible to pay just 15% on Google Play for digital subscriptions, which is the lowest rate among major app platforms. But even if they don’t want to comply with Google Play’s policies, Android’s openness still provides them multiple ways of distributing their apps to Android users, including through other Android app stores, directly to users via their website or as consumption-only apps.

Match Group's complaint comes as both Apple and Google face scrutiny from companies and government agencies. The Open App Markets App is a piece of legislation that the Senate Judiciary Committee passed in February. It will allow developers to use their own billing systems, as well as change other potentially anticompetitive behavior waged by Apple and Google, such as punishing a developer for offering its app for a better price elsewhere.

In August of last year, South Korea passed a bill requiring Apple and Google to allow developers to use other billing services on their apps. The Netherlands is engaged in a legal battle with Apple over its policies that block third-party payment processors for Dutch dating apps.

There is a statement from a Google spokesman.