According to the watchdog, the user signed up for a six-month membership at what he thought would be a one-off $149 payment.

Counsel for the ACCC alleged eHarmony engaged in misleading conduct, or conduct liable to mislead the public, because disclosure of the automatic renewals – which signed users up for a default 12-month period – “came late” in the process and was not prominent.

It was alleged the disclosure was contained in small, grey text and only after the user was prompted to enter their payment details.

“This isn’t sufficient to displace the dominant message,” counsel said.

Another user told the ACCC he signed up to an $89 six-month membership, only to be hit with a $358 fee because of the automatic renewal. A third claimed their initial $155 payment for a 12-month membership increased to $478 as a result of the renewal process.

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According to the watchdog’s concise statement, eHarmony “therefore engaged in conduct that gave or was likely to give consumers the impression or understanding that the subscription period was six, 12 or 24 months, whereas the subscription period was longer … unless steps were taken by the consumer to turn off automatic renewal”.

The ACCC has also challenged eHarmony’s claim that it offered “free” dating, with counsel telling the court that users of its “basic” membership package were allegedly restricted in how they could communicate, or “date”, other users on the platform.

Counsel said that after spending approximately eight minutes filling in an 80-question quiz, during which users provided a “significant amount of personal information about themselves”, they would only be allowed to see blurred, unrecognisable profile photos.

Communication was then restricted to “liking” other profiles, sending or receiving a single message, sending one smiley face emoji, or using an “icebreaker” feature. All other features were off-limits unless the user opted to upgrade their membership to a paid model.

Counsel said by the time users were aware of these limitations, they had become “hooked into using the platform”.

ACCC also alleged eHarmony misled consumers about their ability to cancel subscriptions and failed to display accurate minimum prices.