New study shows how popular apps including Grindr, OkCupid, Tinder, and the period-tracking apps Clue and MyDays share intimate user data with data brokers
A new study shows how information about your sexuality, religion, and location is sent straight from phones to data brokers
What makes this study distinct is the destination: rather than ad SDKs or exploitable APIs, intimate attributes — sexuality, religion, precise location — flow directly to data brokers, the same intermediary layer later exposed at scale by the Gravy breach showing thousands of apps feeding location data to brokers.
First-order effects
Users of Grindr, OkCupid, Tinder, Clue, and MyDays learn that their sexuality, religion, and location are being transmitted off-device to data brokers, turning private app usage into a tradable profile.
Second-order effects
The named apps face pressure to audit their data-sharing pipelines — Grindr has already been burned twice by SDK and API exposures, so each new disclosure compounds scrutiny of its privacy posture relative to rivals like OkCupid and Tinder.
Third-order effects
If the pattern holds, sensitive-category data from dating and health apps becomes a regulatory flashpoint distinct from ordinary ad tracking, forcing platform-level permission boundaries between consumer apps and the broker layer.
The trend: App-to-broker data pipelines have survived a decade of disclosures, with location and sensitive personal attributes remaining the core commodity even as each exposé shifts blame between developers, SDKs, and brokers.
7. And @Facebook is embedded in most of the apps we researched as well, corresponding with research conducted by many others pic.twitter.com/CnWmmlOGxi
It's only 10 apps, but the amount of personal information they share about you is gigantic. And it's just the tip of the iceberg. Read the Norwegian Consumer Council study on how these apps breach your privacy and put your security at risk 👇 https://www.forbrukerradet.no/ ... htt…
hmmmmmmm. so if > grindr uses analytics/adtech tools specifically for monetization > those tools, at the same time, can lead to discrimination somewhere down the road (outside of grindr's purview) should grindr be held responsible? https://www.eff.org/... https://twitter.com/...
By spreading user information like dating choices and precise location to advertising and marketing companies, popular dating services like Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder may be violating privacy laws https://www.nytimes.com/...
Dating apps kek Tinder, Grindr & OkCupid, selain sering disalahgunakan oleh yg hobi s****kuh, juga ternyata menyalahgunakan data personal information. Demikian New York Times melaporkan https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/...
“Any consumer with an average number of apps on their phone — anywhere between 40 and 80 apps — will have their data shared with hundreds or perhaps thousands of actors online,” said the digital policy director for the Norwegian Consumer Council. https://www.nytimes.com/...
“The online advertising industry is behind comprehensive illegal collection and indiscriminate use of personal data, research from the Norwegian Consumer Council shows.” #privacy #GDPR #HumanRights #TimeForChange https://twitter.com/...
Popular dating apps like Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder are spreading user information like dating choices and precise location to advertising and marketing companies in ways that may violate privacy laws, according to a new report https://www.nytimes.com/...
STUDY: Grindr and OkCupid broadcast shockingly intimate and sensitive details to adtech companies potentially violating the #GDPR and pushing toward the inevitable showdown of litigating the definition of “selling” data in the #CCPA. #DataRights https://www.nytimes.com/...
This report details the disturbing amount of information apps share with third parties, including your precise location data. This is exactly why we're working on bipartisan, comprehensive legislation to protect your privacy both online and offline. https://www.nytimes.com/...
Grindr is sharing detailed personal data with thousands of advertising partners, including information about users' location and sexual orientation, according to a consumer group https://www.bloomberg.com/...
It's great to see Twitter taking action to remove Grindr from their Mopub ads platform ( https://adage.com/... ) but that's not really the problem. Google needs to end the consent loophole for their 12-hand-picked Android Mediation providers, which includes Mopub & Vungle. pic.tw…