Grindr, a popular hookup app, has reached a settlement in a U.K. lawsuit where it faced allegations of selling sensitive user information, such as HIV status, to advertisers. The California-based company has agreed to pay £26 million (approximately $48.6 million Cdn) to around 12,000 individuals who joined the claim filed by the London law firm Austen Hays in 2024.
The lawsuit accused Grindr of breaching U.K. privacy laws before April 2020 by sharing data with other companies in exchange for payment or commercial benefits. This data included details like users’ HIV status, recent testing information, and PrEP usage. According to the claim, this information was then shared with third parties like Localytics and Apptimize for targeted advertising purposes, and it may have been further sold to additional parties.
Austen Hays mentioned that users might have assumed that the information they provided on the app was only visible to other users. The law firm emphasized Grindr’s significant role in facilitating dates and encounters for the 2SLGBTQ+ community and stressed the importance of ensuring user data is handled responsibly to rebuild trust.
Eligible claimants who used the free version of Grindr between 2016 and 2020 will receive £2,167 (or $4,050 Cdn each) as part of the settlement. Grindr, a publicly traded company, plans to disburse the settlement amount in two installments, with the first half expected to be paid by the end of this year and the remainder by March 31, 2027.
While Grindr disputes the allegations and maintains that the settlement does not imply any admission of liability, the company acknowledges the concerns expressed by some U.K. users about the pre-2020 period. This legal issue in the U.K. follows a previous incident where Norway’s government fined Grindr for unlawfully sharing data, a decision that Grindr unsuccessfully appealed in 2024.
Grindr, described as the largest social networking app for the 2SLGBTQ+ community, was previously owned by Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd., a Chinese gaming company. Following regulatory concerns about data privacy, the U.S. government mandated Kunlun to divest from Grindr. The app was later acquired by a group of private investors for $620 million US in 2020.
Grindr, launched in 2009, boasts over 15 million monthly active users globally. The app generated $138 million US ($190 million CAD) in revenue during the second quarter of 2026, as reported in its latest investor update.