Even After Grindr Changed Its Data Policy, Users Are Still Being Outed
metroweekly.comA new investigation from the Wall Street Journal has shown that from 2017 to 2020, Grindr was selling its users’ data. The investigation revealed that Grindr sold over 13 million users’ data to the highest bidder.
While the data in question didn’t include personal information such as names or phone numbers, it did collect data on location.
The exact location while the app was in use, location to other users and significant locations (or regularly visited places) were being collected and sold to advertising and third-party companies.Grindr has since changed its data policy, deciding in 2020 to stop selling users’ data to advertising and third-party groups going forward.
However, some of the data collected from 2017 to 2020 may still be for sale.In response to Wall Street Journal‘s investigation, Patrick Lenihan, Grindr’s vice president of communications, argued that since amending its policy in 2020, Grindr has been proactive about sharing less data with advertisers than other social media sites.“Grindr has shared less information with ad partners than any of the big tech platforms and most of our competitors,” Lenihan said. “The activities that have been described [by the Wall Street Journal article] would not be possible with Grindr’s current privacy practices, which we’ve had in place for two years.”He also claimed that the company has stood by its new policy despite taking a financial hit from not selling off users’ data.However, adopting the new “minimized” policy does not guarantee that users’ data cannot be accessed.
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