Tinder, Grindr Accused of Illegally Sharing User Data

guest · Jan 14, 2020

Tinder, Grindr Accused of Illegally Sharing User Data
January 14, 2020
https://www.securityweek.com/tinder-grindr-accused-illegally-sharing-user-data

A new report by the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) details how Grindr, which markets itself as the "world's largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans and queer people," shares the GPS data, IP addresses, ages and genders of its users with a multitude of third-party companies to help them improve advert targeting.

The report, titled "Out of Control", examines the collection and use of personal data by 10 popular apps and concludes that the advertising industry is "systematically breaking the law".

"Every time you open an app like Grindr, advertisement networks get your GPS location, device identifiers and even the fact that you use a gay dating app," Austrian activist Max Schrems said in a statement by the NCC.
"This is an insane violation of users' EU privacy rights," Schrems said.

The dating app Tinder is also accused of sharing user data with at least 45 companies owned by the Match Group, which operates a dating website of the same name.
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Report: Out of control

As we move around on the internet and in the real world, we are being continually tracked and profiled for the purpose of showing targeted advertising.

The actors, who are part of what we call the digital marketing and adtech industry, use this information to track us over time and across devices, in order to create comprehensive profiles about individual consumers.
Although the adtech industry operates across different media such as websites, smart devices, and mobile apps, we chose to focus on adtech in apps.
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Report: "Out of Control - How consumers are exploited by the online advertising industry"
(PDF): https://fil.forbrukerradet.no/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-14-out-of-control-final-version.pdf
Technical report - Out of Control
(PDF): https://fil.forbrukerradet.no/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/mnemonic-security-test-report-v1.0.pdf

guest · Jan 19, 2020

Twitter suspends Grindr from ad network after alleged privacy violations
January 15, 2020
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/twitter-bans-grindr-from-ad-network-following-personal-data-report/

Twitter has kicked Grindr off of its ad network after a report claimed the dating app was sharing users' personal data with marketers and advertisers.

"We are currently investigating this issue to understand the sufficiency of Grindr's consent mechanism. In the meantime, we have disabled Grindr's MoPub account," Twitter said in a statement to CBS News. Grindr could not be reached for comment.
Widely used dating apps Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder are sharing users' personal information — including their locations, sexual preferences, drug use, political views and more — with analytics and marketing firms in an alleged violation of European privacy laws, according to the Norwegian Consumer Council.

The Norwegian council on Tuesday said it filed complaints against Grindr and five ad tech companies for violating European data protection regulations.
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Tinder, Grindr Accused of Illegally Sharing User Data

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