London, 17 April 2025 – UK class action specialist Austen Hays has served claims in the US on Grindr, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ social networking and dating app.
The claims, brought on behalf of over 10,000 clients, were served on two entities in two different US states. They allege that Grindr misused the private information of thousands of UK users, including in many cases, highly sensitive information about their HIV status and last tested date.
Since Austen Hays, which is part of professional services group Gateley, filed the claim in the English High Court in April 2024, over 10,000 claimants have signed up to the claim, with many more still in the process of joining.
Chaya Hanoomanjee, Austen Hays managing director and the lawyer leading the claim, said: “We have received an overwhelming response to the claim against Grindr, with over 10,000 people looking to seek justice for the significant distress caused over their highly sensitive and private information being shared with third parties without their consent.
“Now that we have taken the steps to serve the claim in the US, we will continue to progress this important claim and seek justice for those who have been let down by Grindr. We want to ensure that lessons have been learnt and all its users are safe while using the app, wherever they are, without fear their data might be shared with third parties without their consent.
“Any users who think they may have been affected by this breach are still able to come forward.”
Austen Hays’ claim, which could only be served in the US, alleges that Grindr breached UK data protection laws by sharing sensitive data to third parties without the users’ consent.
Information about the users’ ethnicity and data relating to their sex life and/or sexual orientation may have also been shared, causing significant distress. This data breach occurred mainly before 3 April 2018, and between 25 May 2018 and 7 April 2020, although the breach may extend to further periods.
The claim alleges that Grindr unlawfully processed and shared users’ data with various third parties. This could allow a potentially unlimited number of parties to obtain or access this data.
Grindr was previously fined $6 million by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority in 2021 for data privacy practices that violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Grindr appealed that finding, but failed in its attempt, with the final decision issued in September 2023. It was also issued with a reprimand by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office in July 2022, after a finding that it had infringed UK GDPR in relation to other data practices.