grindr
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Grindr sued for allegedly sharing users' HIV status and other info with ad companies
Grindr is facing a class action-style lawsuit after allegedly sharing sensitive user data such as HIV statuses with advertising companies.
Grindr is going public with a $2.1 billion valuation
It's merging with a blank check firm called Tiga.
Grindr location data was reportedly for sale for at least three years (updated)
Grindr location data was on the market for at least three years, potentially exposing users to serious privacy violations.
Grindr restricts location features at the Beijing Olympic Village
Grindr has limited outside access to the Winter Olympics Village to protect the privacy and safety of athletes.
Dating app Grindr disappears from Apple's App Store in China (updated)
Grindr has abruptly left Apple's App Store in China, raising fears about a renewed government crackdown on 'illegal' content.
AWS had another outage, this time affecting apps like Slack and Hulu
A power outage at an AWS data center caused issues for at least the third time this month.
In ‘Searchers’, looking for love on dating apps is a revealing journey
Apps have taken over dating. If you’ve ever sat down with a friend and asked to go through people on a dating app with them, Searchers is a film for you. If you’re one of the lucky people who have never had to use a dating app and are curious about the experience, Searchers is for you.
Grindr flaw allowed hijacking accounts with just an email address
A Grindr vulnerability allowed anyone who knows a user’s email address to easily reset their password and hijack their account. A French security researcher named Wassime Bouimadaghene discovered the flaw and tried to report it to the dating service. When support closed his ticket and he didn’t hear back, he asked help from security expert Troy Hunt who worked with another security expert (Scott Helme) to set up a test account and confirm that the vulnerability does exist.
Grindr will finally remove the app's ethnicity filter
Many users are asking why it's taken so long for Grindr to remove the ethnicity filter.
Study finds Grindr, OKCupid and Tinder sharing sensitive data (updated)
Some of the most popular dating apps have been accused of playing fast and loose with particularly sensitive data. The Norwegian Consumer Council has published a report accusing Grindr, OKCupid and Tinder of spreading various degrees of information about GPS location, sexuality and other personal information in irresponsible ways. While Grindr has vowed not to share HIV statuses and some sexual gropu identification with ad partners, it transmits user tracking info and the app's name to over a dozen companies, effectively identifying users as LGBT. OKCupid even sent data on drug use, ethnicity and political views to the analytics firm Braze.
House panel asks Apple, Google if app makers must reveal foreign ties
The US is growing increasingly suspicious of foreign-made apps. House national security subcommittee chairman Rep. Stephen Lynch has sent letters to Apple and Google asking whether or not they require app developers to disclose "potential overseas affiliations" before software shows up in their respective stores. The congressman is worried about claims that apps like TikTok, Grindr and FaceApp may be providing sensitive data to the governments of China and Russia.
Grindr's owner gave staff access to sensitive user data
When the US pushed Grindr's owner to sell the app over national security concerns, it made only vague allusions to what might have prompted the decision. Now, however, the situation is clearer. Reuters sources have claimed that Beijing Kunlun triggered alarms after it gave engineers in Beijing access to Grindr's database for several months. While there wasn't evidence that the company misused the data, the tipsters believe the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) was worried that the Chinese government could comb the database to find info on US intelligence and military personnel.
Grindr's Chinese owner has to sell the app by June 2020
Kunlun, the Chinese mobile company that owns Grindr, has to sell the popular gay-dating app by the middle of next year. It has reached an agreement with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to sell Grindr by June 2020 after the agency raised concerns about national security related to its ownership. In addition, the agreement prohibits the company from accessing Grindr users' information, which include their location and HIV status. It also forbids Kunlun from transmitting sensitive data to any entity based in China.
Grindr may be sold by its Chinese owner due to US national security risk
Apparently, the US government views Grindr as a threat to national security. According to Reuters, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) informed the Chinese gaming company that owns the dating app that its ownership constitutes a national security risk. Now, facing pressure from the US, Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd is looking to sell.
UK to question Tinder, Grindr over age checks in dating apps
Tinder and Grindr are about to face close scrutiny over their age policies. The UK's Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright, plans to ask the dating app giants about their age verification and safety systems after a Sunday Times report revealed dozens of incidents of sexual assault and exploitation against children who managed to sign up for the app, including over 30 instances of rape. He wanted to know what tools Tinder and Grindr had in place to "keep children safe from harm," and vowed "further action" if the dating services didn't provide adequate answers.
Facebook collects user data from apps like Tinder, OKCupid and others
A new report from German company Mobilsicher, an outlet dedicated to info on mobile security, has detailed some information about how certain apps share user information with Facebook, BuzzFeed News reports. The group tested the Android version of a number of apps -- including Tinder, Grindr, OKCupid, health-related apps like Pregnancy+ and MigraineBuddy as well as religion-focused apps such as Bible+ and Muslim Pro, among others -- and it found that personal information was being collected from those apps via Facebook's SDK. That information could include IP addresses, the app in use, the type of device and users' unique Advertising IDs, info that's transferred as soon as a user opens the app.
Grindr president defends controversial LGBTQ marriage remarks
The president of Grindr is trying to walk back controversial same-sex marriage comments reported by the app's in-house magazine and elsewhere. "Some people think that marriage is a holy union between a man and a woman, I think so too, but that's your own business," Scott Chen wrote on Facebook yesterday. The post, originally reported by Grindr's Into magazine, had users of the app and LGBTQ+ publications like Out wondering whether he supported gay rights.
A third-party app can use Grindr to expose your exact location
Back in March, a report revealed that Grindr suffered from flaws that could expose its users' personal information. The company issued a statement in response that said its location tracking feature is more akin to a square on an atlas and can't pinpoint users' exact location. According to a new investigation by Queer Europe, though, Grindr can still expose people's personal data through a third-party app called "Fuckr," which was released in 2015 and can locate up to 600 Grindr users within minutes. And by "locate," we mean it can tell where users are with an accuracy of 6 to 16 feet -- accurate enough to tell which establishment, house or even room they're in.
Grindr reportedly shared HIV statuses with other companies
Grindr's privacy issues may extend beyond access to data with a login. BuzzFeed News and Norwegian non-profit SINTEF report that Grindr has been sharing its users' HIV statuses (including their last test date) with two app optimization companies, Apptimize and Localytics. As that data is attached to info like email addresses, GPS info and phone IDs, it's possible for an intruder to link specific people (beyond just their public profiles) to their health info.
Grindr adds more transgender-inclusive features
Grindr is rolling out new features to be more inclusive of transgender members. User profiles now include a new "identity" feature that includes options for listing gender and preferred pronouns. Members can pick from a list of common gender identities such as "trans man", "woman", "cis man", "non-binary, "non-conforming" and "queer", or specify their own identity if it doesn't appear on the list. Pronouns such as "he/him/his", "she/her/hers" and "they/them/theirs" can also be chosen, or specific pronouns written if not listed. Writing throughout the website has also been updated to include gender neutral terms.
