Norwegian courts on Monday upheld a record fine of 65 million kroner (5.7 million euros) imposed on dating app Grindr for illegally sharing sensitive data. In 2021, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority (Datatilsynet) had fined Grindr, which presents itself as “the world’s largest dating network for gay, bi, trans and queer people”accusing it of having provided its users’ data to third parties for targeted marketing between July 2018 and April 2020.
The group had been criticized for sharing GPS coordinates, profile information about its users (age, gender, etc.) and the very fact that they use the app with advertisers, thereby providing information about their sexual preferences. For Datatilsynet, the lack of clear information given to users about this practice and explicit approval on this point from them violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) implemented in the European Union in May 2018.
Defeated in a conciliation proceeding in 2023, Grindr decided to take the Norwegian state to court. The Oslo court ruled in favor of the state on Monday. It concluded that requests for consent from users regarding the sharing of their data did not comply with GDPR requirements and stressed that the data in question was “sensitive”, relating to sexual orientation. A spokeswoman for Grindr, Kelly Miranda, expressed her disappointment to Norwegian media, stressing that these were long-standing practices, and indicated that the group was considering an appeal.
