Grindr to pay £26 million to settle UK privacy lawsuit over HIV data sharing
The dating app will compensate roughly 12,000 users after allegations it shared sensitive health data with advertisers.
Grindr has agreed to a £26 million settlement to resolve a UK class action lawsuit alleging the app improperly shared sensitive user data. The agreement concludes a legal battle brought by approximately 12,000 users who claimed their private information, including HIV status, was disclosed to third-party advertising firms.
According to court documents and regulatory filings, the settlement will be paid in two equal installments: £13 million by December 31, 2026, and a further £13 million by March 31, 2027. The lawsuit was originally filed in April 2024 by the law firm Austen Hays in the High Court of England and Wales. If the funds are distributed equally among the 12,000 claimants, the average compensation per person will be approximately £2,167.
Historical Data Practices
The data sharing in question occurred during a period when Grindr was owned and controlled by the Chinese conglomerate Beijing Kunlun Tech. Grindr was later sold by Kunlun in 2020 following national security concerns in the United States and subsequently went public in 2022.
In a US regulatory filing, Grindr stated that the settlement includes no admission of liability and that the company disputes the allegations. However, the company acknowledged the "distress and loss of trust" expressed by UK users regarding what it describes as historical data practices prior to 2020. This follows a pattern of privacy scrutiny for the platform; in 2018, Grindr ceased sharing HIV status after research exposed the practice. More recently, Norway's data protection authority fined the company 65 million Norwegian krone in 2021 for sharing GPS and IP addresses for behavioral advertising without a valid legal basis—a ruling upheld by the Borgarting Court of Appeal in October 2025.
Industry Implications
This case underscores the extreme sensitivity of data held by LGBTQ+ platforms, where the mere existence of an account can reveal protected personal information. The settlement highlights the significant legal and financial risks companies face when privacy claims regarding the sale of user data are found to be misleading. Furthermore, it demonstrates that companies can remain liable for "historical" data practices even after a complete change in ownership and corporate structure.
What Remains
While the financial terms of the settlement are established, the final distribution of funds to the 12,000 affected users remains the next primary step. Observers will be watching to see if this settlement triggers similar class action attempts in other jurisdictions where Grindr operated under Beijing Kunlun Tech's ownership.