You can’t use this app for that: Exploring off-label use through an investigation of Tinder

This article reconceptualizes the pharmacological term “off-label use” in the context of platforms and apps. It combines literature on technological appropriation with research on platforms’ sociotechnical arrangements to understand off-label use as platform appropriation. This conceptual work is applied to an investigation of Tinder, involving analysis of the platform, media articles, and interviews. Findings show that off-label use, such as marketing and campaigning, appropriates Tinder’s infrastructure and sociocultural meanings. Tinder also responds to disruptive off-label uses with changes in governance and infrastructure. This analysis shows how off-label use can locate user agency while uncovering shifting relations among users and platforms.