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Grindr to pay £26m to settle UK privacy lawsuit over HIV data sharing
The London settlement ends a legal battle filed in April 2024, with Grindr agreeing to pay £13m by year end and £13m by March 2027.
Grindr will pay £26 million to settle a UK lawsuit brought by thousands of users who alleged the dating app shared highly sensitive personal information with advertising firms, including in some cases users’ HIV status, the Guardian Business reports.
The action, filed at the High Court of England and Wales in April 2024 by law firm Austen Hays, was supported by 12,000 claimants, with an average compensation of £2,167 each if the total settlement is distributed evenly, according to the report.
Grindr said the settlement resolves a group action tied to what it described as historical data practices before 2020, when it was owned and controlled by Beijing Kunlun Tech. In a US regulatory filing cited by the outlet, the company said the settlement includes no findings or admission of liability, while it acknowledged the distress and loss of trust expressed by some UK users.
As part of the settlement terms, Grindr agreed to pay £13 million by the end of this year and another £13 million by the end of March 2027. The outlet also noted Grindr was sold in a $608 million deal six years ago and later went public on the New York Stock Exchange via a SPAC merger in 2022.