Grindr shares location data and HIV status with third parties

In April 2018, a researcher at Norway's SINTEF found that the gay-daring app Grindr was sending its 3.6 million users' HIV status and last tested date along with their GPS data, phone ID, and email to two app-optimising companies, Apptimize and Localytics. SINTEF also found that the company was sharing precise GPS position and other information such as "tribe", sexuality, relationship status, and ethnicity with third-party advertising companies, sometimes unencrypted. Grindr said it pays Apptimize and Localytics help improve the app, and that these platforms are used by thousands of others. Grindr's privacy policy tells users they have the option to provide HIV status information and warns that if they do it will become public, but was less clear about how the company might share the data and with whom.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/azeenghorayshi/grindr-hiv-status-privacy

Writer: Azeen Ghorayshi and Sri Ray

Publication: BuzzFeed