LGBTQ Dating App Grindr Under Fire for Selling Users' HIV Information to Advertisers

Dating and social networking app Grindr, which is geared toward the gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community, is in legal hot water for allegedly selling the private information, including HIV status, of “potentially thousands” of users to third parties without consent, according to a story published in Reuters.

The massive lawsuit, which is being filled in the High Court of Justice in London, England, alleges that thousands of Grindr users in the United Kingdom have been affected.

The firm Austen Hays alleges that users’ sensitive information, including HIV status and HIV testing dates, were supplied to third parties for advertising purposes.

Through a spokesperson, Grindr said in a statement, “Grindr has never shared user-reported health information for ‘commercial purposes’ and has never monetized such information.”

Austen Hays said that approximately 670 people had signed up with the lawsuit over privacy breaches said to have taken place between 2018 and 2020, with the possibility of thousands more joining the suit.

“Grindr owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to compensate those whose data have been compromised and who have suffered distress as a result,” the firm’s managing director, Chaya Hanoomanjee, said in a statement. Hanoomanjee added that the company must “ensure all its users are safe while using the app, wherever they are, without fear that their data might be shared with third parties.”