GRINDR has agreed to pay £26m to settle a UK group action alleging unlawful processing of users’ personal data and misuse of private information before 2020. The deal, reached on 2 September 2026 and disclosed to investors in an SEC filing two days later, contains no admission of liability and Grindr continues to deny the claims. Payments will be split into £13m by 31 December 2026 and £13m by 31 March 2027. The action concerns historical data practices during a period when Grindr was owned and controlled by the Chinese conglomerate Kunlun.
The claim centres on the alleged sharing of highly sensitive data with third parties without adequate consent, including HIV status, last tested date and PrEP use, with potential exposure of ethnicity and data relating to sex life or sexual orientation. The litigation covers users of Grindr’s free app from 2016 to 2020, with Austen Hays representing around 12,000 people.
The case notes that Grindr disclosed in 2018 that it had shared HIV data with analytics providers Apptimize and Localytics, a practice it said it stopped after Norwegian researchers revealed the arrangement. UK and other regulators have previously flagged privacy concerns, including a 2022 ICO reprimand and a 2021 Norwegian €6.5m penalty upheld in 2024. Grindr says it has since overhauled its privacy programme after the 2020 change of ownership.