Grindr has shared too much data with the advertising industry. This was determined by the Oslo District Court. It thus confirms the fine that the Norwegian data protection authority Datatilsynet imposed on the matchmaking service for same-sex oriented men in 2020. Within 14 days, Grindr is to pay 65 million crowns to the Norwegian state treasury, which is equivalent to 5.7 million euros.
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The appeals body responsible for data protection issues has already confirmed the data protection penalty against Grindr; however, Grindr went to court. The trial took place in mid-March and the verdict was announced on Monday. Grindr disclosed too much information about its users to the advertising industry from 2018 to 2020. According to the data protection supervisory findings, the company also passed on, among other things, GPS data from its users.
Xiaomi’s Poco F6 in the test: A top-performing smartphone at an affordable priceGrindr argued that users chose to use the app with full knowledge of the circumstances and voluntarily by clicking “Continue” and “Accept.” They could have used apps other than Grindr instead. However, Grindr did not convince the district court.
Disclosing your use of Grindr is itself sensitive
This follows the data protection authority’s reasoning that the use of the app and thus the sharing of the app ID with advertising clients involves particularly sensitive data. “According to the court, the information that a person is a registered user of Grindr is information about the person’s sexual relationships or sexual orientation,” the judgment states. In doing so, Grindr disclosed particularly sensitive data (Article 9 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation). How sensitive the mere use of a dating app is is shown by the example of an American organization that wanted to use Grindr data to report gay priests in the Catholic Church.
The Data Protection Authority’s proceedings against Grindr were initiated following an extensive complaint by the Norwegian Consumer Council (Forbrukerrådet). He is satisfied that Datatilsynet’s decision has now been upheld in court at first instance: Norwegian consumer advocates say this is an “important victory in the fight for consumer data protection and online safety”.
British class action lawsuit
Grindr, which is now Declared Leader for Data Security There are currently ongoing proceedings against Grindr in the United Kingdom; affected individuals have filed a class action lawsuit based on the data protection supervisory decision.
Although Norway is not a member of the European Union, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and therefore the European Economic Area (EEA). As of July 20, 2018, the EU General Data Protection Regulation also applies to the EFTA states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The Kingdom’s data protection authority has already shown in other cases such as Meta that it interprets the law restrictively and is willing to enforce it.
(DS)
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