Grindr’s Data-Sharing Problem Is Bigger Than Grindr

It is an unfortunate true statement universally acknowledged that an app on your headphone must be in want of profit , and that its Lord will often rely on advertizing to pull in that money . It ’s also truthful that these ads rely onrat - queen - esque electronic web of partnershipsto make that digital cash appear . At in force , this flock intend thatbillions of dollarsvanish from companies ’ advertizement budgets each yr . At worst , you find out out that the earth ’s most pop queer dating app was inadvertently top off location data point on its clientele for years , as users of Grindr discovered Monday viaThe Wall Street Journal .

Citing two people familiar with the matter , the Journal reported that the locations of countless Grindr user — which includes millions of gay , bi , and trans multitude across the world — were useable for purchase since “ at least 2017 , ” according to the theme .

“ Grindr has shared less information with advertizement partners than any of the gravid technical school platforms and most of our competitors , restrict the information we apportion to IP address , advertising ID , and the introductory information necessary to support ad delivery , ” Grindr voice Patrick Lenihan take down in apublic financial statement .

Photo: Leon Neal (Getty Images)

With all regard to Lenihan , that stripe is extremely low . So - called “ anonymous ” data gunpoint like an ad ID or IP addresscan easilybe tied back to a specific gadget , and the person who owns that gadget . By using “ anon. ” information like this , advertisers can accurately suspect yourworkout routine , your favorite tunes , your immigration statusand much , much more .

While offering position data to ad partners is an rotten , albeit common , practice , the stakes with Grindr are particularly high ; about one year ago , reports emergedthat location data point glean from the app was used to out a Catholic non-Christian priest . The priestresigned , and Catholic newsworthiness writerswrung their handsover the ill - gotten data source .

Grindr abnegate any wrongdoing at the time , and pointed out in a program line to Gizmodo that the troupe had close off access to its user ’s positioning data since 2020 . But the Journal ’s report and thelaundry listof ad pardner that Grindr has used to monetize over the years add to grow scrutiny confront the company .

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Even the data point used to out the priest was anonymized , legally speaking , but the middleman were able to attach the Grindr - using twist to a certain Grindr - using priest was because the equipment was look frequenting the priest ’s mansion and lake house .

Did those information point occur from almost ? From MoPub ? From some attached political party ? It ’s literally impossible to say ; ad net are notoriouslydense and opaque , even in state like California , which has the strong data concealment law in the U.S. today . Again , it ’s apretty scummy bar . As a cheeseparing spokesperson told The Journal , “ every individual entity in the advertising ecosystem has entree to the information shared by Grindr and every other app that use the real - metre dictation scheme . ” That ’s the average in the adtech cosmos .

Does the rap in this case lie with Grindr ? perfectly . But it also lies with a system that handles your anonymity without care . flop now , if you have enough John Cash , you’re able to buy location datum fromcell towers , satellites , retailersandcountless appsthat might , unwittingly , Earth’s surface someone ’s sexuality . And until the LGBT+ community stop being seen as ajuicy marketfor advert targeting , people will keep buy that data point , and they ’ll keep doing whatever they want with it , legally . And that means nobody , queer or otherwise , is good .

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