Take Back Your Privacy Sues Dating App Tinder for Alleged Privacy Violations, Reading Users’ Conversations to Gain Financial Profit
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands — Scott+Scott Amsterdam on behalf of the Take Back Your Privacy Foundation (TBYP) today initiated legal proceedings at the Amsterdam court against Tinder Ireland and Match Group Inc., alleging that the companies for years violated data privacy laws and harvested sensitive personal data of their users for financial gain.
According to the lawsuit, Tinder routinely collects much more sensitive private information from its users than necessary, for example by geotracking while using the app.
With this data, Tinder allegedly creates detailed profiles of all users which are then being sold to advertisers. According to TBYP, this is not only a violation of European privacy legislation (GDPR), but also unethical, misleading, and even dangerous.
“Tinder has been sharing very sensitive information from its users with advertisers over the past few years. Additionally, Tinder has been reading their private conversations and constantly tracking their location to create detailed data profiles to make money. This is illegal, and Tinder must respect users’ privacy. We also believe that Tinder should pay damages to its users. This is also a signal to big tech: privacy is a fundamental right,” said Friederike van der Jagt, chairwoman at Take Back Your Privacy.
The foundation invites Tinder users to join the claim for free. TBYP previously filed a lawsuit against TikTok for violating the privacy of Dutch children. TBYP is suing Tinder for violations ofprivacy legislation (GDPR), Dutch consumer law, and the Telecommunications Act (cookie legislation).
Read more about the claim and how to join this action here.