LONDON (Reuters) – Gay dating app Grindr faces a major data protection lawsuit in London from hundreds of users who say it shared personal information including their HIV status with third parties without their consent. The law firm announced Monday.
Austin Hayes said the case was being filed in London's High Court and that thousands of Grindr users in the UK could have been affected.
The company alleges that sensitive user information, including HIV status and date of most recent HIV test, was provided to third parties for commercial purposes.
A Grindle spokesperson said in a statement that the company intends to “vigorously respond to this allegation, which we believe is based on an incorrect assessment of our practices that are more than four years old.”
Austin Hayes said about 670 people have signed on to the lawsuit over the alleged breaches, which occurred between 2018 and 2020, and thousands more could join.
“Glyndr has a responsibility to the LGBTQ+ community to provide redress to those whose data has been breached and who have suffered as a result,” Chaya Hanumanjee, the company's managing director, said in a statement.
The company “needs to ensure that all users, wherever they are, can use the app securely without fear of their data being shared with third parties,” Hanumanjee said.
A Grindr spokesperson said: “We are committed to protecting user data and complying with all applicable data privacy regulations, including those in the UK.
“We are proud of our global privacy program and take privacy very seriously.”
(Reporting by Sam Tobin; Editing by Sharon Singleton)