Take Back Your Privacy sues Tinder for privacy violations

Press releases

December 16, 2024

Take Back Your Privacy sues Tinder for privacy violations, including reading users' private conversations and profiting from their sensitive dating data

The Take Back Your Privacy Foundation (TBYP) has initiated legal proceedings at the Amsterdam court against Tinder Ireland and the American Match Group, the companies behind the Tinder dating app, for years of violating the privacy and consumer rights of their users for financial gain. TBYP wants Tinder to stop doing this. Additionally, TBYP demands that Tinder compensates users for the past violations. TBYP calls on as many Tinder users as possible to join the claim for free. TBYP previously filed a lawsuit against TikTok for violating the privacy of Dutch children.

According to TBYP, Tinder has been collecting much more sensitive private information from its users over the years than necessary, for example by constantly tracking their location while using the app. With this data, Tinder creates detailed profiles of all users. These profiles, and the sensitive information they contain, are very valuable and Tinder profits from them by, among other things, sharing data with online advertising companies. According to TBYP, this is not only a violation of European privacy legislation (GDPR), but also unethical, misleading, and even dangerous. "We’ve already tried to discuss this with Tinder, but they pretend nothing is wrong and deny all allegations. So we see no other option than to stop these practices by taking Tinder to court," says Friederike van der Jagt, chairwoman at Take Back Your Privacy.

To find a good match: okay. To share with 'third parties' without consent: not okay

Van der Jagt explains the problem: "People are on Tinder to find a good match. To that end, they share sensitive information. For example, the fact that they’re unsure about their sexual orientation. Or that they prefer to date someone of their own faith. Or that they’re only interested in casual contacts. Tinder shares such sensitive information with external companies and does not use this information solely to match users. This happens without the user knowing, as the information Tinder provides to users about this is deliberately made vague, complicated, and hard to find. This is not only unethical but also downright dangerous - it increases the risk that this sensitive information will fall into the wrong hands in the event of data leaks. Unacceptable, given the sensitive nature of the information."

Therefore, TBYP has started a lawsuit. With the help of law firm Scott+Scott, TBYP has filed a collective claim against Tinder Ireland and the American Match Group, the companies behind Tinder. Tinder users can join this claim and get compensated that way.

For and with the affected users

TBYP is suing Tinder for violations of privacy legislation (GDPR), Dutch consumer law, and the Telecommunications Act (cookie legislation). More details can be found here.

In short, TBYP wants Tinder to:

immediately stop the unlawful actions: Tinder must obey the law like everyone else.
destroy all unlawfully collected data.
pay damages to Tinder to compensate for their sensitive data ending up with external parties in the wrong way.

Van der Jagt: "Online dating has already led to countless relationships, and we have no problem with Tinder's core activity. However, Tinder can also perform this without violating users' privacy. We also want to raise awareness about what can happen with personal data that people share in good faith on an online platform. We see this, like our TikTok case, as an important signal to big tech: privacy is a fundamental right, and organizations like our foundation are ready to continue defending it."

The Tinder claim works as follows:

All people living in the Netherlands who have or have had a Tinder account between May 25, 2018 and today can register on this website. From that point onwards, TBYP represents their interests. Registration is completely free, according to the 'no win no fee' principle. "Thanks to the support of an external financer, we can conduct this lawsuit without any financial risk for the registered users. If the court awards damages, all Tinder users will receive their share. If we lose the case, Tinder users don’t have to pay anything" , says Van der Jagt.