Candelore

*1142 INTRODUCTION

Tinder, Inc. owns and operates the smartphone-based dating application, Tinder. The original app began, and is still offered, as a free online dating service. It presents users with photos of potential dates. The user can swipe right to express approval, or swipe left to express disapproval. In March 2015, Tinder released a premium service called "Tinder Plus," which allows users to access additional features of the app for a monthly fee.

Plaintiff, Allan Candelore, commenced this action on behalf of himself and a putative class of California consumers who were over 30 years old when they subscribed to Tinder Plus. The complaint alleges that Tinder charges consumers who are age 30 and older $19.99 per month for Tinder Plus, while it charges consumers under the age of 30 only $9.99 or $14.99 per month for the Tinder Plus features. 1 Candelore sued for age discrimination in violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act ( Civ. Code, § 51 ; the Unruh Act or the Act) and the Unfair Competition Law ( Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17200 et seq. ; the *340 UCL). 2 The trial court sustained Tinder's demurrer without leave to amend, ruling in part that Tinder's age-based pricing…