By Benson Daniel
Grindr has agreed to pay £26 million to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of users in the United Kingdom who alleged that the dating app shared highly sensitive personal information, including HIV status in some cases, with advertising companies.
The settlement brings a two year legal dispute to an end after claims were filed in England and Wales alleging that Grindr had breached UK data protection laws through its handling of users’ personal information before 2020. The case involved about 12,000 users, who would receive an average of roughly £2,167 each if the settlement were divided equally.
The allegations centred on the disclosure of information that users would reasonably expect to remain private. Besides HIV status, the case involved claims concerning other sensitive personal information and the way such data was made available to third parties for commercial purposes.
Grindr has strongly disputed liability and has not admitted wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The company said the agreement relates to historical data practices from before 2020 and contains no finding or admission of liability.
Under the settlement terms, Grindr will make the £26 million payment in two instalments. The company is expected to pay £13 million by the end of 2026, followed by a further £13 million by the end of March 2027.
The legal action dates back to April 2024, when a claim was brought on behalf of users who alleged that their sensitive information had been shared without proper consent. The case followed years of scrutiny of Grindr’s privacy practices, particularly concerning the handling of information about users’ sexual health.
Concerns over the company’s data practices first attracted major international attention in 2018, when researchers reported that information connected to users’ HIV status could be transmitted to third party companies. Grindr subsequently announced that it would stop sharing HIV status information with outside companies.
The latest settlement nevertheless highlights the continuing legal and financial consequences of those earlier practices. The claims concerned activity during a period when Grindr was controlled by Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech. Grindr was later sold to a US based investment group in 2020 following scrutiny over the security of user data.
The company has since said it has overhauled its privacy programme, with greater emphasis on user control, transparency and the protection of sensitive information. Grindr maintains that it now operates under substantially different privacy standards from those associated with the period covered by the lawsuit.
The case also adds to a wider debate over how technology companies collect, store and share personal information. Dating platforms handle particularly sensitive data because users may disclose details about their health, sexuality, relationships, location and personal identity while expecting those details to remain confidential.
Grindr’s settlement comes after regulatory action in Europe over similar concerns. Norway’s data protection authority fined the company in 2021 over violations relating to the sharing of personal information, with the penalty later upheld on appeal.
Although the UK settlement does not establish that Grindr was legally liable for the allegations, the size of the payment underlines the potential cost of disputes involving sensitive user information.
For the thousands of people represented in the case, the agreement closes a lengthy legal battle. For the wider technology industry, it serves as another warning that privacy practices involving highly sensitive personal data can carry significant legal, financial and reputational consequences long after the original conduct has ended.
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