Grindr will pay £26 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging it passed users' personal information, including HIV status, to third parties, the company said. The settlement, filed with US regulators, ends a claim that began in the UK High Court in 2024 and was later served in the United States.
The payment is structured as two equal instalments of £13 million, the filing said. Grindr will make the first payment by 31 December and the second by 31 March 2027, and the SEC submission records the settlement as reached on 2 September. The company said the agreement includes no admission of liability.
The original claims, brought by law firm Austen Hayes, alleged that Grindr misused sensitive data for commercial targeting, naming analytics firms Apptimize and Localytics as recipients. More than 11,000 people have signed on to the litigation, the law firm said. The allegations trace back to revelations in 2018 and concern practices from before 2020, when Grindr was owned by the Chinese firm Kunlun.
Grindr acknowledged the harm users described while disputing the legal claims, saying, "While Grindr disputes the allegations, it recognizes and acknowledges the distress and loss of trust expressed by some of its UK users regarding that pre-2020 period." The lawyer leading the claim, Chaya Hanoomanjee, said claimants had "experienced significant distress" and that the company "owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to compensate those whose data has been compromised."
Regulators have previously penalised the company for past data practices: Norway's privacy watchdog fined Grindr £5.5 million, and the UK Information Commissioner's Office issued a reprimand in 2022. Grindr said it has since rebuilt its privacy program, stating it had "overhauled" practices after 2020 and remained committed to transparency, user control, and responsible data handling.
The settlement allows tens of thousands of claimants to recover without a court finding on liability, while leaving the regulatory history intact. With payments scheduled through March 2027, the deal closes this chapter of litigation but keeps questions about accountability and trust in apps that collect health information active.
