October 21, 2025
Today it was announced that the appeal by dating app Grindr was unsuccessful and the administrative fine of NOK 65 million (approx. € 5.5 million) remains in place. The Norwegian Consumer Council now expects the industry to change its practices to comply with the law.
The case began in 2020, when the NCC discovered how Grindr shared consumers’ personal data with various commercial partners.
Following decisions by the Norwegian Data Protection Authority and the Privacy Appeals Board, plus a ruling by the Oslo District Court, the Court of Appeal made a decision: Grindr has violated the General Data Protection Regulation and the NOK 65 million fine remains in place.
Because Grindr shared its users’ personal information for advertising purposes, the Court concluded that the company’s claim that “we do not sell your personal user information to third parties for advertising purposes” is patently misleading.
Expectation of change
– We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has confirmed that Grindr’s practice of uncontrolled sharing of special category data with third parties is illegal. Such violations of consumer privacy are serious, says Finn Lützow-Holm Myrstad, Director of Digital Policy. He hopes the decision will lead to significant changes in the sector.
– We now expect that the digital advertising industry, which benefits from extensive tracking and profiling of consumers, will make fundamental changes in the way they operate to bring their practices into compliance with the law and respect fundamental rights, Myrstad says. He adds:
– There should be no ‘free for all’ policy when it comes to collecting and sharing personal data.
– A powerful signal
– The collection, sharing and exploitation of personal data has gotten out of hand and is now finally being addressed. This decision sends a strong message to all companies in the commercial surveillance industry, Myrstad said.
According to Myrstad, the practice is problematic for several reasons:
– There are many examples of how such information is used to manipulate and influence everything from elections to targeting consumers in vulnerable situations. In the worst case, such data can be used to persecute minorities.
I hope the decision is final
Now that the Grindr case has concluded in the Court of Appeal, Myrstad hopes this story will be settled once and for all.
– The complaint was filed almost six years ago and since then four different institutions have confirmed that what Grindr was doing was illegal and upheld the significant administrative fine. We hope this marks the end of this case, Myrstad concluded.
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