Allegations have surfaced against Grindr, accusing the platform of divulging highly sensitive user information to two advertising firms. A lawsuit against the popular dating app has also raised concerns that these two companies may have sold the data on to an unknown number of other businesses.

Hundreds of Grindr users have already joined the new class action claim, but thousands more could be affected by this serious data protection violation. If the claim is successful, victims of the Grindr breach could be owed thousands of pounds in compensation.

What does the class action claim say?

The Grindr data breach claim has been filed by a UK law firm. The lawyers believe that:

• Grindr breached data protection laws by sharing its users’ personal and sensitive data for profit
• Grindr did not have consent to share the highly sensitive data
• Users of the app may have experienced physical and mental harm because of the data breach, including feelings of fear, embarrassment, and anxiety
• In some cases, affected Grindr users could be entitled to thousands of pounds in compensation.

Grindr stands accused of a potential breach involving sensitive data

The following personal data may have been shared by Grindr, without user consent:

• Name
• HIV status and date of latest HIV test
• Ethnicity and sexual orientation
• Other personal and sensitive data, including info about users’ sex lives

The law firm behind the class action believes Grindr owes affected lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people an apology for the shocking betrayal of trust.

This is not the first time Grindr has been accused of large-scale data security failures. In 2023, the company lost its appeal to overturn a data breach fine by the Norwegian Consumer Council. As a result, the company was ordered to pay a record 65 million Norwegian krone (£4.6 million) for GDPR breaches.

One year earlier, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office reprimanded Grindr for failing to properly inform users about how it processed their data.

What can you do if you think you might be affected by the Grindr data breach?

First and foremost, it is important that you do not panic. While lawyers believe that Grindr has violated the trust given to it by the LGBTQ+ community, it has not experienced a cyberattack. This means that your data is not in the hands of cybercriminals.

Nevertheless, Grindr is accused of sharing your data without your consent. This is not only a breach of trust, it is also illegal.

If you used the free version of the Grindr app or website between Dec 2016 and April 2020, you could be affected and you could have a no-win, no-fee data breach compensation claim.

Our simple eligibility checker provides instant clarity. Answer a few straightforward questions, and you’ll know if you could qualify for a Grindr data breach group action claim.