If your account is suspended or banned

“Temporarily Suspended”, with a countdown

This is a time-limited block. It lasts 24 or 72 hours, and the screen shows how long is left.

How it ends: by itself. When the countdown reaches zero, the app takes you back in. You don’t need to do anything, and there’s no appeal to file in the app. If you think it’s a mistake, write to support@matchmachine.com.

While it lasts: you can’t use the app and you’re hidden from Discover. Your matches and messages are still there when you return. You can sign out, download your data or delete your account from this screen.

“Account Banned”, with a reason

This one has no end date. It stays until an appeal is approved. The screen shows one of three reasons: Fraudulent Activity, Identity Verification Issue or Violation of Terms, and sometimes more detail.

What changes:

• You’re removed from Discover straight away.
• Your matches end. They see the chat as ended and read-only, with no reason shown.
• If the reason is fraud or identity, people you exchanged messages with in the past 30 days get a safety notice with your first name and the reason. The law in California requires this.

You can still appeal, download your data, sign out or delete your account from this screen.

How to appeal

1. Open the app and sign in. Tap Submit Appeal on the screen.
2. Explain why you think the decision should be reconsidered, in 10 to 1,000 characters. Be specific, and be truthful: false information can count against you.
3. Send it. The screen then says Your appeal is under review. You can only have one appeal open at a time.

A person on our team reads each appeal and decides. We don’t send an email or notification about the decision, and there’s no set time for it. The result appears in the app.

If it’s approved: your account comes back, and the older records behind the decision stop counting against you. Matches that ended stay ended, and any safety notices about you are removed from the app.

If it’s denied: the screen says so, and you can send a new appeal if you have more to add.

Why accounts get restricted

Our team can act on an account directly. There’s also an automatic system that adds up reports and moderation records, with older ones counting for less over 30 days:

• Automated checks for things such as payment requests, phone numbers in messages and copied messages only ask our team to look. They don’t count unless a person confirms them.
• Reports from other members do count. Three different people reporting you within 24 hours leads to a temporary suspension.
• As the total rises, the steps are a slower limit on sending messages, then a 24 hour suspension, a 72 hour suspension and finally a permanent one.

Good to know

• Subscriptions keep running. A suspension doesn’t cancel a subscription with the App Store or Google Play. Cancel there if you don’t want to be charged.
• Deleting doesn’t lift a ban. It also ends any appeal in progress, and some details stay. See what we keep.
• Questions? Write to support@matchmachine.com from the address on your account.