Grindr to pay out £26million settlement in lawsuit over sharing HIV status info
Grindr has agreed to pay out a settlement (Getty Images)
Grindr has agreed to pay a £26million settlement in a UK lawsuit brought by thousands of users who allege the app shared highly sensitive personal data, including their HIV status, with advertising companies.
The settlement, reports The Guardian, ends a two-year legal battle after Austen Hays filed a claim at the High Court of England and Wales in April 2024 on behalf of Grindr users, alleging breaching privacy laws during a period of time up to the start of 2020. Austen Hays represented 12,000 people in the case, who will receive an average compensation of £2,167 each if the settlement is distributed equally.
Grindr said the lawsuit related to “historical data practices before 2020”. The company added: “The settlement includes no findings or admission of liability. While Grindr disputes the allegations, it recognises and acknowledges the distress and loss of trust expressed by some of its UK users regarding that pre-2020 period.”
Under the settlement, Grindr has agreed to pay £13million by the end of this year, and another £13million by the end of March next year. Grindr also said it has overhauled its privacy programme since 2020, adding the app “is and remains a safe space for users, committed to transparency, user control and responsible data practices”.
Gateley, Austen Hays’ parent firm, said: “We thank our clients for trusting us with this sensitive case.”
How the dispute developed
In April 2018, Grindr announced it would stop sharing the HIV status of users with third-party companies after researchers in Norway revealed there had been data sharing with two companies.
In 2021, Norway’s data protection authority fined Grindr 65m Norwegian krone (about £4.8m) for violating data protection rules, and Norway’s court of appeal upheld the decision and fine in October 2025.
The court said Grindr’s claim that it did “‘not sell your personal user information to third parties for advertising purposes’ is clearly misleading”.
The app has faced repeated scrutiny over privacy, data security and moderation, including concerns about how sensitive profile fields can be used or inferred.
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