Match.com Class Action Says Dating Website Inaccessible to Blind Users

Match.com has been hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that the website is nearly impossible for those with vision impairments to use.

Plaintiff Joseph Dephillips claims in his class action lawsuit that access barriers on the Match.com dating website makes it difficult for those with disabilities to use.

The lack of access violates the civil rights of disabled persons, alleges the plaintiff, particularly given the recent technological advances that are available to allow all independent access to the service.

Match.com is a hugely popular online dating service. It allows users to set up a profile and browse profiles of others looking for a love connection. However, because those with disabilities are unable to independently access the website, they are not able to even create a profile, alleges the Match.com class action lawsuit. By not allowing full participation, Match.com violates basic equal access requirements under state and federal law, says the plaintiff.

Dephillips alleges that he attempted to access Match.com just this year, but because he is blind, he was unable navigate the numerous access barriers on the website. There are currently 8.1 million people in the United States with visual impairments, says the plaintiff, including 2 million who are blind. Blind people and those with visual impairments enjoy dating as much as sighted people, says the plaintiff, and they should not be denied the opportunity to participate in the online dating trend.

According to the class action lawsuit, Match.com “excludes the blind from the full and equal participation in the growing Internet economy that is increasingly a fundamental part of the common marketplace and daily living. In the wave of technological advances in recent years, assistive computer technology is becoming an increasingly prominent part of everyday life, allowing blind people to fully and independently access a variety of services, including online dating.”

Dephillips says that readily available technology exists that would make the content of Match.com accessible to those who are visually impaired. This includes “alt-text,” which is an invisible code embedded beneath a graphical image on the website. This feature allows a screen reader to read text aloud in a box that pops up, but does not affect the experience of a sighted user.

Match.com also fails to include prompting information that would allow blind users to locate and utilize navigation options, like gender, relationship status, desire to have children, etc. The plaintiff also alleges that Match.com could easily incorporate accessible forms that would allow blind users to use the site to specify their preferences in a dating partner. Further, the site requires the use of mouse to navigate and lacks navigation links.

The plaintiff seeks to represent “all legally blind individuals in the United States who have attempted to access Defendant and as a result have been denied access to the enjoyment of goods and services offered by Defendant during the relevant statutory period.” Additionally, the plaintiff seeks to represent a New York subclass.

Match.com’s failure to provide an accessible website violates the federal American’s with Disabilities Act as well as state law, Dephillips says. The plaintiff is seeking damages and a court order requiring Match.com to update its website to be accessible to those with disabilities.

Dephillips is represented by C.K. Lee and Anne Seelig of Lee Litigation Group PLLC.

The Match.com ADA Class Action Lawsuit is Dephillips v. Match.com LLC, Case No. 1:17-cv-07428, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.