Grindr users were not specifically asked whether they were okay with their data being sent to third parties 'for behavioral advertisement' and 'were forced to accept the privacy policy in its entirety to use the app.'Īdditionally, the watchdog said that the information regarding the data sharing with third parties 'was not properly communicated to users,' going against EU stipulations for 'valid consent.' That information allowed app users to be identified and could potentially be shared further by third parties. Norway's Consumer Council filed a complaint in 2020 against the California-based company-which runs a dating app for gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people-for providing third parties with user information like GPS locations, addresses, ages, gender and app use. The disclosure of that data violates strict privacy rules from the European Union, and the Norwegian Data Protection Authority said that it issued its highest fine to date because of the breach.
A Norwegian data privacy watchdog agency fined dating app company Grindr $7.16 million on Wednesday for sharing sensitive personal user data with potential advertising partners without users' permission.
