Over-30s pay more for Tinder Plus, Which? finds
A Which? investigation has revealed that market-leading dating app Tinder routinely charges over-30s more for its 'Plus' subscription.
UPDATE: Our original analysis also found that Tinder appeared to be hiking prices for young gay and lesbian users aged 18-29. When we shared our findings twice with Tinder in December 2021, it admitted that it offers discounts in 'some geographies' and denied setting different prices based on sexuality, but gave no further details about what drives its pricing algorithm.
Having initially chosen not to provide further information, Tinder has since revealed that it offers discounts to users aged 28 and under in the UK and claimed that by including 29-year-olds in our analysis of the relationship between price with age and sexual orientation, 'the results would be skewed to make it appear that LGBTQAI+ members paid more based upon orientation, when in fact, it was based upon age'.
Tinder told us it has never factored in sexual orientation into its pricing.
Updating our analysis with this new information leaves us with no evidence that sexual orientation impacts pricing for young Tinder users. We have therefore removed reference to it from this piece.
People willingly share their most sensitive data with dating apps in the hope of finding suitable matches, but would they be so casual if they discovered their personal data is being used to set personal prices?
Which? is concerned that big tech firms are collecting vast amounts of digital data to drive highly sophisticated yet obscure algorithms. And the more we give away about ourselves online - often unknowingly - the more we may be offered goods and services skewed by increasingly personal details.