If it were a romcom, it would be called Love on Trial, and it would star Ryan Reynolds as a slick attorney whose heart is melted by an earnest activist (Katherine Heigl). But it’s a true story: on Valentine’s Day this year a class-action lawsuit was filed in California against Match Group, the owner of Tinder, OkCupid and Hinge, by a group of users who believe that the apps are lying to us. The software isn’t trying to find us our soulmates, it’s trying to keep us single and searching, addicted to the microdose of dopamine secreted as we swipe.
The lawsuit justly questions the right of tech firms to profit from loneliness, but there is a poignancy to the complaint, which seems to voice a deep frustration with the present state of love and relationships: with all the algorithms at my disposal, and all the hot singles in my area, why haven’t I met the right person?
