€ 5,8 million fine for Grindr – appeal by Grindr failed
In 2020, the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC) filed a complaint to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority against the dating app Grindr for breach of the General Data Protection Regulation. noyb has assisted the NCC in its legal analysis. The Norwegian Privacy Appeals Board (Personvernnemnda) today announced that it upholds the Norwegian Data Protection Authority’s fine of NOK 65 million (approximately € 5,8 million).
- More information by the Norwegian Consumer Council
- More information on the website of the Norwegian Data Protection Authority
Press Release by the Norwegian Consumer Council:
"Surveillance-based advertising, where companies collect and share personal data for commercial purposes, is completely out of control. We are very pleased that the Norwegian Data Protection Authority has resolutely followed up our complaint and that the Norwegian Privacy Appeals Board has clearly affirmed that Grindr’s practice of sharing sensitive personal data with third parties is illegal", says Finn Myrstad, Director of Digital Policy at the Norwegian Consumer Council.
This sends a strong signal to all companies involved in commercial surveillance. There are serious repercussions to sharing personal data without a legal basis. We call for the digital advertising industry, which is responsible for tracking and profiling consumers on a massive scale, to make fundamental changes to respect consumers’ rights.
In 2020, the Norwegian Consumer Council filed a complaint against Grindr. The complaint was based on the report “Out of Control”, which revealed how the app collected and shared sensitive personal data about its users with several commercial third parties, who reserved the rights to share information onward with potentially thousands of further companies, in the service of targeting surveillance-based advertising.
Intimate knowledge of consumers’ preferences and when we are most receptive to manipulation is a threat not only to consumer- and privacy rights but may have dramatic consequences for society. This is also the reason why the Norwegian Consumer Council and a large group of consumer and human rights organizations from across Europe and the United States have called for a ban on surveillance-based advertising.
“Today’s decision is very important for the entire mobile apps ecosystem. It is a step forward towards putting an end to the illegal unauthorised data sharing of mobile apps users”, Ala Krinickytė, Privacy Lawyer at noyb.
