Smartphone dating app Grindr faces a record 100-million-kroner (9.6-million-euro) fine in Norway for illegally sharing user data with third parties, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority said on Tuesday.

Grindr, which claims to be "the world's largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people", is accused of sharing its users' GPS coordinates, user profile data and the fact that the user is on Grindr, for marketing purposes.

"Our preliminary conclusion is that Grindr has shared user data to a number of third parties without legal basis," Data Protection Authority director general Bjorn Erik Thon said in a statement.

According to the authority, this violates the European Union's GDPR, or data protection rules, on valid consent that were introduced in May 2018.

The authority therefore decided to notify Grindr that it will be fined around 10 percent of its global turnover, or about $10 million, an unprecedented fine in the Nordic country.

The Norwegian Consumer Council, which had filed the initial legal complaint against Grindr, hailed the announcement as a "historic victory for privacy."

Grindr has until February 15 to challenge the decision.

The wrongdoing it is accused of took place before April 2020, when the app changed its user consent terms.

In January 2020, the Norwegian Consumer Council filed legal complaints against Grindr and five other apps, including Twitter-controlled MoPub, for violating personal data protection rules.

The other complaints are still being examined, the Data Protection Authority said.

Smartphone dating app Grindr faces a record 100-million-kroner (9.6-million-euro) fine in Norway for illegally sharing user data with third parties, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority said on Tuesday.

Smartphone dating app Grindr faces a record 100-million-kroner (9.6-million-euro) fine in Norway for illegally sharing user data with third parties, the Norwegian Data Protection Authority said on Tuesday. Grindr, which claims to be "the world's largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people", is accused of sharing its users' GPS coordinates, user profile data and the fact that the user is on Grindr, for marketing purposes. "Our preliminary conclusion is that Grindr has shared user data to a number of third parties without legal basis," Data Protection Authority director general Bjorn Erik Thon said in a statement. According to the authority, this violates the European Union's GDPR, or data protection rules, on valid consent that were introduced in May 2018. The authority therefore decided to notify Grindr that it will be fined around 10 percent of its global turnover, or about $10 million, an unprecedented fine in the Nordic country. The Norwegian Consumer Council, which had filed the initial legal complaint against Grindr, hailed the announcement as a "historic victory for privacy." Grindr has until February 15 to challenge the decision. The wrongdoing it is accused of took place before April 2020, when the app changed its user consent terms. In January 2020, the Norwegian Consumer Council filed legal complaints against Grindr and five other apps, including Twitter-controlled MoPub, for violating personal data protection rules. The other complaints are still being examined, the Data Protection Authority said.

Grindr faces USD 10mn fine in Norway for illegal data sharing

LGBTQ dating app Grindr&nbsp;will remove the "ethnicity filter" from the next version of its app, showing solidarity with Black Lives Matter movement against&nbsp;police brutality against black women and men.

The app currently lets people filter potential matches according to their age, height, weight and ethnicity.

Announcing the change, Grindr said it had a "zero-tolerance policy for racism and hate speech" on its platform.

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We will not be silent. Black Lives Matter. <a href="https://t.co/K671PrwJc0">https://t.co/K671PrwJc0</a> <a href="https://t.co/93ninYt2u9">pic.twitter.com/93ninYt2u9</a>
— Grindr (@Grindr) <a href="https://twitter.com/Grindr/status/1267535069834473473?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 1, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Several companies have posted messages of their own featuring the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter following&nbsp;six consecutive days of protests across the United States.

The events were sparked by the killing of George Floyd - a black man who died after a white officer continued kneeling on is neck even after he had pleaded that he could not breathe.

While some Grindr users welcomed the removal of the filter, others said the company had taken too long to implement the change, and had done the "bare minimum".

The ethnicity filters have been controversial for years, but they went unchanged even as Grindr launched&nbsp;an anti-racism campaign&nbsp;on the platform in 2018.

Grindr is not the only LGBT dating app to allow filtering by race. Other apps, including The League and Hinge, allow users to filter out people of certain ethnicities as well.

However, the spotlight will now move to others that have yet to take a similar stance.

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LGBTQ dating app Grindr will remove the "ethnicity filter" from the next version of its app, showing solidarity with Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality against black women and men.

LGBTQ dating app Grindr will remove the "ethnicity filter" from the next version of its app, showing solidarity with Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality against black women and men. The app currently lets people filter potential matches according to their age, height, weight and ethnicity. Announcing the change, Grindr said it had a "zero-tolerance policy for racism and hate speech" on its platform. We will not be silent. Black Lives Matter. https://t.co/K671PrwJc0 pic.twitter.com/93ninYt2u9 — Grindr (@Grindr) June 1, 2020 × Several companies have posted messages of their own featuring the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter following six consecutive days of protests across the United States. The events were sparked by the killing of George Floyd - a black man who died after a white officer continued kneeling on is neck even after he had pleaded that he could not breathe. While some Grindr users welcomed the removal of the filter, others said the company had taken too long to implement the change, and had done the "bare minimum". The ethnicity filters have been controversial for years, but they went unchanged even as Grindr launched an anti-racism campaign on the platform in 2018. Grindr is not the only LGBT dating app to allow filtering by race. Other apps, including The League and Hinge, allow users to filter out people of certain ethnicities as well. However, the spotlight will now move to others that have yet to take a similar stance.

Dating app Grindr to remove ethnicity filter in solidarity with Black Lives Matter movement

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Grindr faces USD 10mn fine in Norway for illegal data sharing

Dating app Grindr to remove ethnicity filter in solidarity with Black Lives Matter movement