Tinder’s co-founder suspended after sexual harassment allegations

Justin Mateen, the co-founder of Tinder (an extremely popular dating app) has been removed from his job after allegations of sexual harassment from other top brass.

tinder

The harassment victim was Whitney Wolfe, one of the other co-founders of the company, who was also the vice president of marketing. Tinder management said that Justin Mateen wouldn’t be acting as the chief marketing officer after repeatedly calling her names and harassing her. She filled a lawsuit last Monday, where she also accuses the company’s management of tolerating such behavior that led to her leaving the company.

Wolfe explains on the lawsuit that Mateen’s behavior goes beyond being “frat-like”, more like extremely misogynistic, and fully incurring in the alpha-male stereotype associated with technology startups. IAC, the company that owns Tinder claims to have made the suspension effective inmediately, while an internal investigation takes place.

So far, the investigation proves that “Mateen sent private messages to Ms. Wolfe containing inappropriate content”, but that aside, IAC claims Wolfe’s allegations against the management are “unfounded.” Weird, because that’s exactly what harassment is, right?

Wolfe also claims that she was deemed a “whore” in front of Sean Rad, Tinder’s acting CEO, while Mateen himself told her that she shouldn’t be listed as a co-founder, which made the app “seem like a joke.” Amongst what Wolfe seeks now legally are undefined damages, including “future lost earnings.”

Via CNET

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