GRINDR PAYS £26M TO SETTLE UK DATA SHARING LAWSUIT

Grindr has agreed to pay £26 million to settle a UK class action lawsuit alleging that the dating app shared users' personal data, including HIV status, with third parties. The settlement will be made in two £13 million instalments, due by 31 December 2026 and 31 March 2027, according to a US regulatory filing by Grindr. The company stated that the settlement includes no finding or admission of liability. Law firm Austen Hays issued the claim in England's High Court in April 2024 and later signed up more than 11,000 claimants to the action.

The lawsuit drew on research published in 2018 showing that Grindr had shared user information with analytics companies Localytics and Apptimize. The data shared included users' HIV status and last test date, sexual orientation, ethnicity and GPS location. According to the claim, this sharing could have allowed a potentially unlimited number of third parties to target or customise advertising to Grindr users. Grindr stated that the challenged practices dated from before 2020, when the company was owned by Chinese firm Kunlun, and before the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States forced Kunlun to divest the app.

Grindr said it disputes the allegations but "recognises and acknowledges the distress and loss of trust expressed by some of its UK users regarding that pre-2020 period." The company stated it has since overhauled its privacy programme. Chaya Hanoomanjee, the lawyer who led the claim, said in April 2024 that claimants had "experienced significant distress" over their sensitive information being shared without consent.