Dutch foundation launches class-action lawsuit against Tinder for sharing sensitive user data

The Take Back Your Privacy Foundation is taking Tinder to court for reading users’ private conversations while also collecting and sharing sensitive information with third parties.

Tinder is a dating app that matches singles with the same interest. In order to make these matches, the app collects a lot of information, including name, gender, age, sexuality, and your interests.

But it doesn’t stop there. The Take Back Your Foundation claims that Tinder also collects information about someone’s ethnicity, religion, social beliefs, and health. The dating app does this by reading into people’s private conversations. This information is then being sold to third parties. Users are deliberately kept in the dark.

The foundation calls these practices unlawful, unethical, misleading, and dangerous. On top of that, the foundation thinks that Tinder collects too much information in order to make matches.

“You share very personal data with Tinder. For example, that you are still questioning your sexual orientation. Or that you want to date someone of your own religion. Or that you are only interested in casual contacts. Things that you should decide with whom you share them. It’s not up to Tinder to do that with other companies,” the Take Back Your Privacy Foundation states.

Tinder not only violates the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), but also Dutch consumer law by deliberately informing consumers in an inaccurate, incomprehensible and insufficient way about data collecting and processing. Furthermore, the dating app violates the Dutch Telecommunication law by unlawfully using cookies and other tracking technologies.

The foundation demands that Tinder respects its users’ privacy and stop collecting sensitive and private information. In addition, it wants all illegally obtained information to be removed. Lastly, the foundation requests financial compensation for all users whose privacy has been violated.

The Take Back Your Privacy Foundation tried talking to Tinder Ireland and Match Group, Tinder’s parent company, but to no avail. Together with the help of a law firm, the Take Back Your Privacy Foundation has initiated proceedings in the Amsterdam District Court against Tinder Ireland and Match Group.

In order to join the class-action lawsuit, participants must complete this registration form.

Should the foundation win this lawsuit and the judge orders Tinder to pay damages, the litigation financier is entitled to 25 percent of the total amount. The foundation expects the lawsuit to last at least two to three years.

Last weekend, Follow The Money (FTM) wrote that it was able to monitor the movements of hundreds of Dutch soldiers from all departments of the armed forces at Dutch barracks, both at home and abroad, by simply using Tinder. According to the Dutch news outlet, this poses a threat to the country’s national security.