Grindr to pay £26 million to settle claims it allegedly shared users’ HIV status

Grindr has agreed to pay £26 million to settle a long-running lawsuit over allegations that it shared users’ sensitive personal information, including HIV status, with third parties.

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historical data practices

The claim was brought in the UK High Court in 2024 and later served in the United States. The law firm leading the case said more than 11,000 people had signed up. A US regulatory filing said Grindr would make two £13 million payments, with the first due by 31 December and the second by 31 March 2027.

The company said the settlement included no admission of liability. It stressed that the allegations concerned “historical data practices” from before 2020, when Grindr was owned by Chinese firm Kunlun. In its filing, Grindr said it recognized the distress and loss of trust expressed by some UK users over that period, while continuing to dispute the allegations.

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While Grindr disputes the allegations, it recognizes and acknowledges the distress and loss of trust expressed by some of its UK users regarding that pre-2020 period.

Law firm Austen Hayes alleged that Grindr shared sensitive data for commercial purposes in breach of UK privacy laws. The information reportedly included users’ ethnicity and sexual orientation. Grindr users can also choose to disclose their HIV status and the date of their last test, a feature the company says is intended to reduce stigma and support informed health decisions.

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experienced significant distress

The claim identified data analytics companies Apptimize and Localytics as third parties that accessed the information. It followed revelations in 2018 that Grindr had shared personal data, including HIV status, with the companies. Grindr defended the practice at the time as consistent with industry standards, but later said it stopped sharing HIV data with them. Norway’s data protection regulator fined the company £5.5 million, and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office reprimanded it in 2022. Grindr said it had since 2020 “overhauled” its privacy practices to meet the needs of its community.

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owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to compensate those whose data has been compromised