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Grindr to pay $35.1 million over sharing sensitive user data, including HIV status

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Documents & data Outcome reported
  • Grindr agreed to pay £26 million ($35.1 million) to settle a UK claim involving 12,000 users who alleged that the app shared sensitive data with advertising companies.
  • The settlement ends a two-year legal battle over alleged privacy violations extending to early 2020, including the use of users’ HIV status for commercial purposes.
  • Grindr denies liability, but will pay £13 million by the end of the year and another £13 million by the end of March 2027.

Grindr will pay £26 million to settle a legal claim brought by thousands of users in the United Kingdom who alleged that the dating app shared highly sensitive personal information with advertising companies, including their HIV status.

The agreement ends a two-year legal battle launched in April 2024 by the London law firm Austen Hays at the High Court of England and Wales. The firm represented 12,000 people and alleged that Grindr violated UK privacy laws through practices that continued until early 2020. If the settlement is divided equally, users would receive an average of £2,167 each.

previous data-handling practices before 2020

· GrindrThe company’s U.S. securities filing described the practices covered by the UK settlement.

Grindr, which is described as the world’s largest dating app for gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, has nearly 15 million users worldwide. The company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it settled the UK class action on Sept. 2 over what it called “previous data-handling practices before 2020,” when the app was owned and controlled by Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech.

Although Grindr disputes the allegations, it acknowledges and accepts the distress and loss of trust expressed by some of its UK users in relation to that pre-2020 period.

· GrindrThe company said the settlement did not constitute a finding or admission of liability.

The California-based company said the settlement did not amount to a finding or admission of liability. “Although Grindr disputes the allegations, it acknowledges and accepts the distress and loss of trust expressed by some of its UK users in relation to that pre-2020 period,” the company said, according to The Guardian.

Grindr agreed to pay £13 million before the end of this year and a further £13 million before the end of March 2027. The company said in April 2018 that it would stop sharing users’ HIV status with outside companies after Norwegian researchers reported that the information had been shared with two firms. The case also examined Grindr’s advertising data practices. An appeals court concluded that the company’s claim that it “did not sell users’ personal information to third parties for advertising purposes” was clearly misleading.

did not sell users’ personal information to third parties for advertising purposes

· GrindrAn appeals court found the company’s statement about its advertising practices clearly misleading.
About this summary

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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