HERE’S WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW REGARDING YOUR HIV STATUS DATAGrindr…

HERE’S WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW REGARDING YOUR HIV STATUS DATA

Grindr has never sold, nor will we ever sell, personal user information – especially information regarding HIV status or last test date – to third parties or advertisers.

We have no reason to believe there has been a malicious hack or a privacy breach at Grindr.

Grindr’s mission is to provide a safe and secure space for queer people anywhere to connect to and discover their world. As a company that serves the LGBTQ community, we understand the sensitivities around HIV status. Over the last couple days, we have listened and engaged with our community. As a result, we have taken steps to discontinue sharing HIV status information with our trusted vendors, Apptimize and Localytics. Privacy is and always will be one of our top priorities. We know that there has been confusion about this, and we apologize for the distress caused to any of our users.

In the nine years since our founding in 2009, we have come to understand the greater responsibility we have to the community we serve. While our goal has always been to protect our users, we created Grindr for Equality to leverage our resources and lead in the fight to promote justice, health, and safety for LGBTQ individuals around the globe. In 2016, after consulting several international health organizations and our Grindr For Equality team, we determined that it would be beneficial for the health and well-being of our community to give users the option to publish, at their discretion, their HIV status and their “Last Tested Date” to their public profile.

Recently, there have been concerns raised about Grindr’s sharing of HIV status information with two companies that help us test our app and improve its functions for our users.  Apptimize and Localytics are two highly-regarded software vendors which help us improve the experience for our users. They take our users’ privacy seriously, and so do we.

We want to assure you that:

1. Grindr has never sold, nor will we ever sell, personal user information – especially information regarding HIV status or last test date – to third parties or advertisers.
2. No advertisers have ever had access to HIV status or last test date, unless they viewed it in your public profile.
3. The HIV status and last test date information was used by Apptimize and Localytics only to provide services to Grindr.
4. When working with these vendors, we restricted data shared to that which was appropriate for the services they are providing and encrypted it when providing it to the contractors.  This data from HIV status fields was used to test and support development of a new features, like our recently released HIV Test Reminders.
5. Users remain in control of any and all information they choose to share on their public Grindr profile.
6. We have no reason to believe there has been a malicious hack or a privacy breach at Grindr.

As a champion for the LGBTQ community, Grindr recognizes – and has always recognized – that it is up to each person to determine whether they want to publicly disclose their HIV status.  We respect each person’s decision whether to keep that information private, or whether to publicly disclose that information in their Grindr public profile. We know that enabling conversations about sexual health is as important as it is difficult.  And as always, we continue to look for ways to ensure Grindr remains a safe space for all.

– Scott Chen CTO and Grindr Family

FAQs

Does Grindr sell any of my information to advertisers?

• Grindr has never sold, nor will we ever sell, users profiles  – especially information regarding HIV status or last test date – to third parties or advertisers.

What personal user profile data does Grindr share with third-parties?

• Grindr does not share users’ profiles with anyone outside of Grindr and select trusted contractors that help us build, maintain, and improve the app and provide its features to our users’ profiles, or as otherwise described in our Privacy Policy.

• In response to recent concerns, Grindr no longer includes HIV status in the data that our trusted contractors may see. From now on, HIV status will not be provided to even our trusted partners (other than those essential vendors involved in the viewing and hosting of profiles in the App).

• We have removed any data regarding HIV status from both Apptimize and Localytics.

Who are Apptimize, Localytics and how does Grindr work with them?

• Apptimize is an industry standard and trusted software vendor that helps developers test out new features by rolling them out incrementally to an app’s user profile base over time.  They do not sell data and are not an advertising or marketing firm.

• In this instance, Grindr used Apptimize to help test and deploy new features within our app, like our recent “HIV Testing Reminder” feature. Grindr has deleted all HIV status and related information from Apptimize.

• Localytics is another ubiquitous and trusted software vendor that helps developers monitor how their application is used. They also do not sell data, only handle encrypted data, and are not an advertising or marketing firm.  

• In this instance, Grindr used Localytics to confirm that the new features were not causing problems with the functioning of the Grindr app. The HIV status data that Grindr provided to Localytics was encrypted. Grindr has removed HIV data from Localytics.

Who has access to my HIV status?

• If you opt-in to include this information in your Grindr profile, your information will be visible to other Grindr users. See our privacy policy.

Can advertisers target Grindr users based on HIV status?

• NO!  Grindr has never sold, nor will we ever sell, users’ profiles – especially information regarding HIV status or last test date – to third parties or advertisers.

• We have not and will never share users’ self-reported HIV information with any advertisers.

Why were you sharing my HIV status with third-parties?

• Grindr has never sold, nor will we ever sell, users’ profiles – especially information regarding HIV status or last test date – to third parties or advertisers.

• As is customary in the industry, Grindr works with a few highly-regarded vendors to test and optimize the Grindr app. These third-parties had limited access to users’ profile data to support the rollout of new features and other site maintenance activities.

• These trusted vendors are contractually obligated to use users’ profile data only to provide services to Grindr.

• Our diagnostic tools support the rollout of new features and other site maintenance and DO NOT capture or store any users’ profile data regarding HIV status.

Has anyone gained access to my profile data on Grindr?

• We have no reason to believe there has been a malicious hack or a privacy breach at Grindr.

• We authorize only appropriate Grindr employees and trusted contractors to access your profile data, all of whom are bound by appropriate privacy and confidentiality terms.

• We also reserve the right to share data as described in our Privacy Policy.  Again, however, we never have – and never will – share HIV status information with advertisers or sell profile data.

• If you include information in your Grindr profile, including HIV status, it is visible to other Grindr users.

Where can I find your privacy policy?

• A copy of our privacy policy can be found on our app or here.

Read more from our partners

Statement from Apptimize

Statement from Localytics