Grindr settles HIV status data-sharing lawsuit for $35 million
Brief
Grindr has reportedly agreed to pay £26 million (around $35 million) to settle a UK privacy lawsuit alleging that it shared sensitive user data, including some users’ HIV status, with advertisers.
The claim was brought by London law firm Austen Hays on behalf of roughly 12,000 UK Grindr users. It alleges that the dating app breached privacy and data-protection laws during a period ending in early 2020.
The claimants allege that Grindr shared personal and highly sensitive information with advertising companies without consent. According to Austen Hays , the shared data may have included ethnicity, HIV status, the date of a user’s last HIV test, and whether they used pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
At the time of the alleged data sharing practices, Grindr was owned and controlled by the Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech. Grindr was sold to US owners in 2020.