The hookup app Grindr is on the hook for a huge payout after settling a U.K. lawsuit that alleged sensitive information about its users — including their HIV status — was sold to advertisers.

The California-based company agreed last week to pay £26 million (approximately $48.6 million Cdn) to some 12,000 people who signed up to the claim filed by London law firm Austen Hays in 2024.

The claim alleges Grindr violated U.K. privacy protection laws for a period prior to April 2020, when Grindr updated its consent guidelines, by sharing data with other companies in exchange for payment or commercial benefits.

That data included users’ HIV status, most recent HIV testing dates and result and whether or not they were using PrEP, an HIV prevention regimen.

Such information is provided voluntarily by users and they can choose whether or not to display it publicly on their profiles.

Such information, the lawsuit claims, was shared with third parties, including the advertising companies Localytics and Apptimize, which would then allow ads to be targeted or customized based on the users’ info. That data may have also been sold to fourth parties, the lawsuit claims.

“Grindr users may have assumed that the information submitted to the app was only available to other app users,” Austen Hays says on its website.

The firm says Grindr “plays an important role” in the 2SLGBTQ+ community, facilitating dates and sexual encounters for gay, bisexual, trans and queer adults, and that it must “be held accountable and reinstate confidence in the way it treats user data.”

Eligible claimants who used the free version of the app between 2016 and 2020 will be entitled to £2,167, or $4,050 Cdn each, if paid equally.

According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing posted Thursday, the publicly traded company will pay out the first half of the settlement by the end of this year, and the remainder by March 31, 2027.

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A ‘loss of trust’ for Grindr users

Per the SEC filing, Grindr says that “the settlement includes no findings or admission of liability.”

“While Grindr disputes the allegations, it recognizes and acknowledges the distress and loss of trust expressed by some of its U.K. users regarding that pre-2020 period,” the company said.

The British lawsuit followed Norway’s government fining Grindr 100 million Norwegian kroner in 2021 — nearly $15 million Cdn at the time — for illegally sharing the data of users of the free version of the app.

Grindr challenged Norway’s decision but lost its appeal in 2024.

Grindr, which bills itself as the world’s largest social networking app for 2SLGBTQ+ people, was solely owned by Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd. between 2018 and 2020. That company also held a majority stake since 2016.

The U.S. government ordered Kunlun to divest from the company over concerns about its handling of sensitive data like HIV status, as well as the contents of users’ private messages.

A group of private investors known as San Vicente Acquisition LLC purchased Grindr for $620 million US, which the government approved in 2020.

Reuters later reported that investors involved in the San Vicente Acquisition group’s purchase had ties to Kunlun.

Grindr was first launched in 2009 and claims to have more than 15 million monthly active users worldwide.

In its latest investor report, Grindr state it brought in $138 million US ($190 million CAD) in revenue in the second quarter of 2026.