Grindr to pay $48-million settlement over sale of users' info — including HIV status | CBC News

Hookup app accused of violating U.K. privacy law by selling sensitive data to third parties

The hookup app Grindr is on the hook for a huge payout after settling a U.K. lawsuit that alleged sensitive information about its users — including their HIV status — was sold to advertisers.

The California-based company agreed last week to pay £26 million (approximately $48.6 million Cdn) to some 12,000 people who signed up to the claim filed by London law firm Austen Hays in 2024.

The claim alleges Grindr violated U.K. privacy protection laws for a period prior to April 2020, when Grindr updated its consent guidelines, by sharing data with other companies in exchange for payment or commercial benefits.

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That data included users' HIV status, most recent HIV testing dates and result and whether or not they were using PrEP, an HIV prevention regimen.

Such information is provided voluntarily by users and they can choose whether or not to display it publicly on their profiles.

Such information, the lawsuit claims, was shared with third parties, including the advertising companies Localytics and Apptimize, which would then allow ads to be targeted or customized based on the users' info. That data may have also been sold to fourth parties, the lawsuit claims.

"Grindr users may have assumed that the information submitted to the app was only available to other app users," Austen Hays says on its website.

The firm says Grindr "plays an important role" in the 2SLGBTQ+ community, facilitating dates and sexual encounters for gay, bisexual, trans and queer adults, and that it must "be held accountable and reinstate confidence in the way it treats user data."

Eligible claimants who used the free version of the app between 2016 and 2020 will be entitled to £2,167, or $4,050 Cdn each, if paid equally.

According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing posted Thursday, the publicly traded company will pay out the first half of the settlement by the end of this year, and the remainder by March 31, 2027.