Grindr pays £26m to settle UK lawsuit over alleged HIV status data sharing

Grindr has agreed to pay £26 million to settle a UK class action alleging that the dating app shared users' highly sensitive personal information, including HIV status in some cases, with advertising companies. The claim accused Grindr of breaching UK privacy laws during a period up to early 2020, when the app was owned by the Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech. According to the filing, the group action related to what Grindr described as "historical data practices before 2020".

Claimants alleged that the app transmitted data including ethnicity, sexual orientation and, in some cases, HIV status to third-party vendors such as Apptimize and Localytics for commercial purposes. The 12,000 people represented by Austen Hays would receive an average of £2,167 each if the fund is distributed equally. Grindr said the agreement includes no findings or admission of liability.

Chaya Hanoomanjee, the lawyer who led the claim for Austen Hays, said in April 2024 that claimants had "experienced significant distress" over their sensitive and private information being shared without their consent. She said the company "owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to compensate those whose data has been compromised". In 2018, Norwegian researchers revealed that the app shared users' HIV status with two analytics companies, prompting Grindr to announce it would stop the practice.

In 2021, Norway's data protection authority fined Grindr 65 million Norwegian krone, about £4.8 million, for violating data protection rules. Grindr, founded in 2009 and now headquartered in West Hollywood, says it has nearly 15 million users worldwide and is the largest dating app for gay, bi, trans and queer people. The company said in its filing that it had overhauled its privacy programme since 2020, "with a keen focus on the unique needs of its community".

It added that "Grindr is and remains a safe space for users, committed to transparency, user control and responsible data practices". Gateley, the parent firm of Austen Hays, thanked clients "for trusting us with this sensitive case". Grindr floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2022 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company in a deal valuing the app at $2.1 billion.

Norway's court of appeal upheld that fine in October 2025, concluding that Grindr's claim that it did "not sell your personal user information to third parties for advertising purposes" was "clearly misleading". The settlement follows years of regulatory scrutiny over Grindr's data handling.