Abstract:
US dating app Grindr has agreed to pay £26 million to settle a class action lawsuit brought by thousands of users in the UK. The plaintiff alleged that during its operation before the beginning of 2020, the app had provided highly sensitive personal information, including the HIV infection status of some users, to advertising companies, violating British privacy protection laws. The settlement ends a two-year legal dispute, but Grindr did not admit any wrongdoing.
This lawsuit was filed by the British law firm Austen Hays in the High Court of England and Wales on behalf of users in April 2024, with a total of about 12,000 people participating. If the £26 million was divided equally among all plaintiffs, each would receive approximately £2,167. According to the settlement arrangement, Grindr will pay £13 million before the end of 2026, and another £13 million before the end of March 2027.
Grindr was founded in 2009 to help gay men connect more easily. Today, the company calls itself the world's largest dating app for gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people, with nearly 15 million users worldwide.
Grindr said in a filing with U.S. regulators that the settlement involves "historical data processing practices before 2020." At the time, the company was owned and controlled by Chinese gaming company Kunlun Technology. Grindr said the settlement agreement does not contain a finding or admission of liability. While the company denies the accusations, it acknowledges that some British users were distressed by the way their data was handled during this period and lost trust.
Grindr also said that since 2020, the company has overhauled its privacy protection plan to focus on the special needs of its user group. The company said Grindr is and will continue to be a safe space to use and is committed to transparency, user control and responsible data handling.
This is not the first time Grindr has attracted attention from regulators over user privacy issues. In April 2018, Norwegian researchers disclosed that Grindr had shared user data, including HIV infection status, with two companies. Subsequently, Grindr announced that it would stop sharing users’ HIV infection status with third-party companies.
In 2021, the Norwegian Data Protection Agency fined Grindr 65 million Norwegian kroner, approximately 4.8 million pounds, equivalent to 10% of the company's global revenue, for violating data protection regulations. Grindr subsequently appealed, but the Norwegian Court of Appeal upheld the original verdict and fine in October 2025.
The Norwegian Court of Appeal held at the time that Grindr had used user personal data for advertising purposes, so the statement that the company "will not sell your personal user information to third parties for advertising purposes" was obviously misleading.
Grindr's ownership and management also changed during this period. In 2020, the company was sold to investment group San Vicente Acquisition for $608 million and changed management. Previously, the U.S. government’s National Security Council had worried that American users’ personal data might be obtained and used by the Chinese government.
In 2022, Grindr was listed on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, with the company valued at approximately US$2.1 billion at the time. Today, Grindr has a market capitalization of approximately $2.65 billion.
Gateley, the parent company of Austen Hays, said that although Grindr denied the relevant accusations, it admitted that some British users were distressed by the way data was handled before 2020 and had lost trust. The company also thanked the clients involved in the lawsuit, saying they were willing to leave this sensitive case to lawyers.
This settlement has once again drawn attention to the privacy protection of dating apps. For applications like Grindr, users' sexual orientation, health status, and other personal information are highly sensitive and may pose serious privacy risks to users once they are used for advertising or other commercial purposes.
Grindr stated that the company has carried out a comprehensive reform of the privacy protection system and will continue to be committed to transparency, user control and responsible data processing. But this lawsuit also reminds people that Internet platforms must fully respect users' rights to know and privacy when handling sensitive personal information.
Comments