Tinder co-founder suspended over sexual harassment claims
Dating app Tinder is facing a law suit after one of its co-founders claimed she was sexually harassed while working at the start-up.
In a lawsuit filed yesterday (30 June) Whitney Wolfe, the company’s former vice president of marketing, blasted the working environment at Tinder describing it as “frat-like” and claimed that the app’s chief marketing officer, Justin Mateen, repeatedly called her a whore in front of colleagues, according to the Telegraph.
The 24 year old also claims that she was stripped of her co-founder title because she was a “young female” and that being so “devalued” the company. Wolfe also alleges that CEO Sean Rad ignored her complaints.
A spokesperson for IAC, which owns a majority stake in Tinder, said Mateen has been suspended ahead of an internal investigation but denied the allegations: “We unequivocally condemn these messages, but believe that Ms Wolfe’s allegations with respect to Tinder and its management are unfounded.”
Wolfe, who was one of five people who helped found and set up the app in 2012, is seeking compensatory damages, including lost pay, punitive damages and restitution.
Last month it was discovered that Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel sent explicit emails to women while a student at Stanford University.