A lawsuit in London will allege that Grindr, the dating app, shared users' HIV status with advertising companies.
A lawsuit in the high court will allege that the American owner allowed access to the personal information of the app's users, violating British law.
See also: Singles prefer LinkedIn for dating over Tinder
Grindr is facing legal action from hundreds of users who claim the dating app shared highly sensitive personal information, including in some cases their HIV status, with advertising companies.
Law firm Austen Hays will file a lawsuit on Monday at London's high court, claiming the app's American owner breached British data protection laws.
The company claims that thousands of Grindr users in the UK had their information misused. So far, 670 people have signed up to the lawsuit, and the company said that “thousands” more people have expressed interest in joining.
Grindr said it would actively respond to the lawsuit, which it said was based on a misleading representation of past policies.
See also: Netflix subscribers surpass 270 million
Grindr was founded in 2009 to facilitate meetups for gay men. It now claims to be the largest dating app for gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the world, with millions of users worldwide.
The lawsuit against Grindr will focus on the company's alleged sharing of personal information with two advertising companies. It will also allege that those companies may have sold the data to other businesses.
The law firm said the lawsuit against Grindr will focus on the time periods before April 3, 2018, and between May 25, 2018, and April 7, 2020, meaning younger users are unlikely to be able to participate. Grindr changed its consent mechanisms in April 2020.
Los Angeles-based Grindr announced it would stop sharing users’ HIV status with third-party companies in April 2018 after a report by Norwegian researchers revealed data sharing with two companies. In 2021, Norway’s data protection authority fined 65 million Norwegian kroner (£4.8 million) – 10% of its global revenue – for violating the General Data Protection Regulation, and last year’s board of directors overturned the decision.
Grindr appealed this decision.
The Norwegian decision did not focus on the alleged disclosure of users' HIV status, but found that the disclosure of the fact that someone was registered on Grindr itself was sensitive information, as users were very likely to be in the gay or bisexual community.
See also: 14-year-old burns down Waymo self-driving car
Chaya Hanoomanjee, a director at Austen Hays, which is leading the lawsuit, said: “Our clients have experienced significant distress about their highly sensitive and private information being shared without their consent, and many have suffered feelings of fear, shame and distress as a result.”
“Grindr owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to compensate those who have been harmed by the data breach and suffered distress as a result, and to ensure that all of its users are safe when using the app, without fear of their data being shared with third parties. “
The law firm said it believes some users may be entitled to thousands of pounds in compensation, without giving further details.
A Grindr spokesperson said: “We are committed to protecting our users’ data and complying with all applicable data protection regulations, including in the UK.”
“We are proud of our global privacy program and take privacy very seriously. We intend to actively respond to this claim, which appears to be based on a misleading representation of practices from more than four years ago, prior to early 2020.”
Source: theguardian
