Grindr has agreed to pay £26 million to settle a lawsuit regarding allegations that it shared users' personal information, including their HIV status, with third parties. The lawsuit was filed in the High Court in 2024, claiming that the dating app misused personal information. The class action suit later extended to the US, with over 11,000 claimants represented by the law firm leading the case.
According to a regulatory filing in the US, Grindr will make two payments of £13 million to settle the claims, with no admission of liability. The company noted that the claims pertain to "historical data practices" before 2020, when it was owned by the Chinese firm Kunlun. The settlement was reached on September 2, 2026.
Grindr acknowledged the distress and loss of trust expressed by some UK users regarding the pre-2020 period, despite disputing the allegations. The company will pay £13 million to the counterparties by December 31, 2026, and another £13 million by March 31, 2027.
The claims, initiated over two years ago by the law firm Austen Hayes, alleged that Grindr shared sensitive data with third parties for commercial purposes, violating UK privacy laws. This included information about users' ethnicity and sexual orientation. Grindr allows users to share their HIV status and the date of their last test, aiming to reduce stigma and facilitate informed health choices.
Chaya Hanoomanjee, the lawyer leading the claim, stated that claimants experienced significant distress over the unauthorized sharing of their sensitive information and emphasized that the company should compensate those affected in the LGBTQ+ community.
Grindr became a publicly-listed company in 2022, following its acquisition by new owners two years prior. The lawsuit identified two data analytics services, Apptimize and Localytics, as third parties that accessed sensitive user data. The claim indicated that numerous third parties utilized this data for targeted advertising.
This lawsuit follows earlier revelations in 2018 that Grindr had shared personal data, including users' HIV status, with the two analytics providers. At that time, Grindr defended its practices as standard within the industry but subsequently ceased sharing HIV data with those companies. The company faced a £5.5 million fine from Norway's data protection authority and was reprimanded by the UK Information Commissioner's Office for its data practices in 2022.
In its recent filing, Grindr stated that it has "overhauled" its privacy practices since 2020 to better serve the unique needs of its community, asserting its commitment to transparency, user control, and responsible data practices.