A UK lawsuit has been brought up against the LGBTQ dating app Grindr after complainants alleged it shared users HIV status’s and other sensitive data to third-party advertisers.

Over 650 people have joined the lawsuit brought forth at the High Court in London by law firm Austen Hays but thousands of UK users were allegedly affected.

The lawsuit claims that Grindr breached its user agreement and UK data privacy law by sharing sensitive, personal data including HIV status, their latest test date, their sexual preferences, and location with analytics and third-party advertisers. While the information was added to public profiles by users, claimants say that selling the data to third parties was done without their consent.

Back in 2018, it was reported that Grindr was sending personal user information en mass to analytics companies, which users criticised as being a misuse of their trust in the app.

The data was shared by users to be open about their sexual health and their preferences with other individuals, the lawsuit said, and users claim it was a violation of their privacy to share it with third parties without their explicit consent.

Since the 2018 allegations, Grindr has updated their privacy policy, and has said that the current claim is a “mischaracterisation of practices from more than four years ago.”

According to the lawsuit, the sharing of personal data with third parties was in breach with UK data privacy laws, and names Apptimise and Localytics as two of the potentially many third parties that the data was shared with.

The lawsuit follows two formal data protection cases brought against Grindr since the 2018 revelation.

In 2021, the Norwegian data protection authority fined Grindr £5.5 million for violating GDPR by sharing user data without explicit consent.

Following this, the UK’s ICO issued a reprimand to the company for failing to provide enough transparency to users on how their personal data was processed.

“Our clients have experienced significant distress over their highly sensitive and private information being shared without their consent, and many have suffered feelings of fear, embarrassment, and anxiety as a result,” Chaya Hanoomanjee, managing director at Austen Hays and the lawyer leading the UK claim, said.

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“Grindr owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to compensate those whose data has been compromised and have suffered distress as a result, and to ensure all its users are safe while using the app, wherever they are, without fear that their data might be shared with third parties.

“Grindr users who think they may be affected by this breach should join the claim so that we can seek redress for them.”