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Gay Dating App Grindr Sued For Sharing Sensitive User Data

By Nithya Bose in Business News, posted April 25, 2024

Grindr has been hit with a mass data protection lawsuit for allegedly sharing highly sensitive user information.

The lawsuit filed in London's High Court claims that Grindr shared users’ HIV status and the dates of their most recent HIV tests with third-party companies for commercial purposes.

This alleged breach, affecting thousands of UK users, reportedly occurred between 2018 and 2020.

Around 670 people have joined the lawsuit, with more expected to participate.

"Grindr has never shared user-reported health information for 'commercial purposes' and has never monetised such information"

Chaya Hanoomanjee, managing director of Austen Hays, said: "Grindr owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to compensate those whose data has been compromised and have suffered distress as a result, and to ensure all its users are safe while using the app, wherever they are, without fear that their data might be shared with third parties."

A Grindr spokesperson said: "We are committed to protecting our users' data and complying with all applicable data privacy regulations, including in the UK.

"Grindr has never shared user-reported health information for 'commercial purposes' and has never monetised such information.

"We intend to respond vigorously to this claim, which appears to be based on a mischaracterisation of practices from more than four years ago, prior to early 2020."

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This lawsuit is not Grindr's first encounter with privacy concerns.

In 2021, Norwegian authorities fined Grindr £5.5 million for violating the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

They cited the app's mishandling of personal data, including users' GPS locations and profile information.

The Norwegian Data Protection Authority criticized Grindr for potentially exposing users' sexual orientations without adequate safeguards.

In 2022, the UK's Information Commissioners' Office (ICO) reprimanded Grindr for not providing clear and transparent privacy information to its UK users regarding processing their personal data.

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