Hinge Defeats Account Termination Case–Bangalore v. Match

This is a New York small claims court case, so I’m primarily blogging it for completeness.

The plaintiff created a Hinge account in January 2024. In March 2024, Hinge terminated his account without explanation. This triggered a cross-account termination at Tinder (also owned by Match). The plaintiff sought compensation for:

the time he spent “building detailed profiles, curating photos, and developing a positive reputation on these platforms.” Claimant seeks to be reimbursed for 260 hours of his time at the rate at which he is paid by Apple Inc. as a software engineer at $94.40 per hour.

I have questions. I haven’t been on the dating apps, but as an outsider, 260 hours of prep time seems like a lot. Is that standard? I also don’t know about that $94/hr rate as an Apple SWE. That sounds low…? I thought fresh-out-of-college SWEs earned over $200k/yr?

Unsurprisingly, this is an easy dismissal. The breach of contract claim fails because the plaintiff didn’t identify any part of the contract that Hinge breached. Plus, “the Terms of Use unambiguously permit Hinge to terminate a user’s account if Hinge believes their Terms of Use have been violated.” The false advertising claim fails for essentially the same reasons.

Another futile case in the ever-growing annals of account termination and content removal cases.

Case Citation: Bangalore v. Match Group LLC, 2025 WL 1215432 (N.Y. Civil Ct. Feb. 28, 2025)