The service is charged with disclosing private data without authorization.
For allegedly sharing users’ personal information with advertising partners without first obtaining their approval, Grindr has been the target of a lawsuit. According to Bloomberg, a complaint that was filed in London asserts that the data includes information on HIV statuses and test dates, as well as information on ethnicity and sexual orientation.
Ad technology companies Localytics and Apptimize were allegedly involved in the data sharing that was said to have occurred, as stated in the class action lawsuit. It has been reported that Grindr provided the corporations with information about its users prior to April 2018, and then again between May 2018 and April 2020. Grindr has been contacted by Engadget for a comment.
The investigation that was conducted by BuzzFeed News and the Norwegian non-profit organization SINTEF resulted in Grindr admitting in April 2018 that it had exchanged HIV data with Apptimize and Localytics respectively. It stated that it will do away with the practice.
Grindr has been accused of improperly revealing the personal information of its users on multiple occasions, including this one. According to a story that was published in 2022 by The Wall Street Journal, accurate location data on Grindr users was available for purchase for a period of at least three years. In addition, the data protection agency of Norway levied a fine of six million dollars against Grindr in 2021 for breaking the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union. According to the law enforcement agency, Grindr had violated the law by sharing “personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.”