The co-founder of Tinder, one of the biggest and best-known digital startups headquartered in West Hollywood, has sued the company and IAC, one of its owners, for sexual harassment and discrimination.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, Whitney Wolfe, former marketing vice president, alleges a “frat-like” atmosphere of sexist and racist comments at the Tinder offices on Sunset Boulevard and sexual harassment by her boss and former lover, the company’s chief marketing officer.
Wolfe alleges that Justin Mateen, Tinder’s chief marketing officer, called her a “whore” and a “gold digger” in front of other employees and Tinder CEO Sean Rad. She said that Rad and Mateen stripped her of her title as co-founder last November, In her lawsuit, Wolfe says that Mateen told her “Facebook and Snapchat don’t have girl founders, it just makes it look like Tinder was some accident.”
The lawsuit includes copies of incendiary text messages from Mateen referring to “Muslim pigs” and describing someone as a “homo.” Wolfe alleges that Rad even sent a text message depicting Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC, which is Tinder’s majority owner, as a penis.
Tinder is a mobile phone dating app that was created in 2012 at Hatch Labs, a digital incubator funded by IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI). Businessweek describes it as “the fastest-growing free dating app in the U.S.” A user is able to quickly look at a photo of another Tinder user within a certain distance and, with a swipe of a finger reject (left swipe) or like (right swipe) the other user. Users who like one another are notified of that so that they can communicate with one another.
Tinder has been hailed for its appeal to women. The best-known dating or “hookup” apps such as Grindr, also based in West Hollywood, and Scruff, target gay men. Tinder allows women to target men or other women and men to target women or other men.
In the early days of its launch, Wolfe frequently was the public face of the app in articles published in The Wire, The New Yorker, Elle magazine and Harper’s Bazaar. The fact that it had a female co-founder was called out because of accusations that the digital startup business has been dominated by men. But Wolfe said that she left out of articles about Tinder in business publications, with with Mateen saying that having a woman as a co-founder “makes the company look like a joke” and “devalues the company.”
In the lawsuit, Wolfe says she was in a brief romantic relationship with Mateen and that he was especially aggressive toward her when it ended. She said that CEO Rad didn’t respond to emails from her complaining about harassment by Mateen and that he called her a dramatic and emotional girl. Finally, at a meeting Rad held with Wolfe and Mateen, the suit alleges that Rad said if the two couldn’t get along, Wolfe would be fired. She said that when she told the Sam Yagan, the CEO of Match.com, about the situation, he said he didn’t feel the need to do anything about the situation. Tinder CEO Rad reports directly to Yagan.
Wolfe said she eventually resigned because of the atmosphere at the company.
An IAC spokesperson said that Mateen has been suspended while the company continues an investigation into Wolfe’s charges. “Through that process, it has become clear that Mr. Mateen sent private messages to Ms. Wolfe containing inappropriate content. We unequivocally condemn these messages, but believe that Ms. Wolfe’s allegations with respect to Tinder and its management are unfounded.”
“left swipe” Tinder.