Did OkCupid secretly share photos of 3 million users without permission? The FTC alleges it did

On March 30, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against Match Group Americas LLC and Humor Rainbow Inc., the company behind OkCupid, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

The FTC alleges the companies secretly shared personal data from millions of OkCupid users, including nearly 3 million photos, with an unrelated facial recognition startup in direct violation of the platform's own privacy policy.

The FTC simultaneously announced a proposed settlement that would impose lasting restrictions on how the companies handle user data.

Who is Humor Rainbow?

OkCupid is one of roughly 45 dating platforms under Match Group Inc., which also owns Match.com, Tinder and Hinge. Humor Rainbow Inc., a company Match Group acquired in 2011, operates the app.

Since the acquisition, Match Group Americas provided shared corporate services to Humor Rainbow, and the FTC's complaint alleges they function as a common enterprise, making both legally accountable for the alleged conduct.

Data transfer allegedly driven by personal investments

The complaint alleges that in September 2014, the CEO of Clarifai, a facial recognition and AI company, emailed one of OkCupid's founders asking for access to large datasets of user photos. The FTC alleges that Humor Rainbow's president and chief technology officer then facilitated the transfer directly.

The data reportedly included:

  • Nearly 3 million user photos
  • Demographic details
  • Location information

The complaint claims that Clarifai received all of it for free, provided no services to OkCupid in return and operated under no formal agreement governing how the data could be used.

The FTC alleges that OkCupid's founders personally and financially invested in Clarifai and that those ties influenced the transfer rather than any legitimate business need.

Did OkCupid's privacy policy allow the transfer?

The FTC says no. At the time, OkCupid's privacy policy stated it would only share users' personal information with service providers, business partners, companies within the Match family or in response to legal obligations like subpoenas. If sharing fell outside those categories, the policy reportedly required the company to notify users and give them the chance to opt out. The complaint alleges that OKCupid did not offer either protection.

Years of alleged denials

When The New York Times began investigating Clarifai's use of OkCupid data, the FTC alleges that executives across both companies prepared a public statement that obscured the relationship and downplayed the data transfer.

The complaint also claims that when users directly asked OkCupid about the data transfer, the company told them that any claim it had shared their information with Clarifai was false.

What the proposed settlement means for OkCupid users

The FTC filed its complaint alongside a proposed settlement. If approved by the court, the settlement would bar both Match Group Americas and Humor Rainbow from misrepresenting how they collect, use, disclose or protect users' personal information. An OkCupid spokesperson confirmed the company settled without admitting wrongdoing, and the court still needs to sign off on the final terms.

While the proposed settlement mandates 10 years of compliance reporting, it does not require OkCupid to notify affected users or offer any specific remedy to those whose data it allegedly shared.