Microsoft’s adtech firm Xandr faces record fine over sensitive Grindr user data
Grindr’s user data isn’t up for grabs.
The Grindr app. By Cybernews / Shutterstock.
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- Norway fined Microsoft-owned Xandr 92 million kroner, about $8.6 million, over Grindr user data.
- Regulators said Xandr processed personal and sensitive information without a valid legal basis.
- The case found that app data could reveal interests, habits, sexual orientation, and other sensitive details.
- Privacy advocates say the decision sets a precedent for holding online advertising companies accountable.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
The Norwegian Consumer Council has imposed a fine of 92 million Norwegian kroner (approximately $8.6 million) on Microsoft-owned adtech firm Xandr for unlawfully using personal data from Grindr.
In 2020, the Norwegian Consumer Council and Austrian privacy advocacy group noyb filed a complaint against Xandr for illegally processing personal data from the dating app Grindr.
The Norwegian privacy and data protection authority found out that every time someone used an app on their phone, personal information about their interests, habits, sexual orientation, and other sensitive information was sent to a large number of so-called “shadowy entities.”
This data was used to create comprehensive user profiles, which were then used for online marketing, targeted advertising, and other purposes.
On Monday, the Norwegian Consumer Council concluded that Xandr, an adtech company that is currently owned by Microsoft, processed personal and sensitive information without a valid legal basis.
“The collection and use of personal data online is out of control. None of Grindr’s users had a relationship with Xandr, nor any reason to expect that their personal data would be shared with a company they had never heard of,” Mette Fossum, Director at the Norwegian Consumer Council, said in a statement on Monday.
“This sends a powerful signal to everyone whose business model depends on tracking and profiling consumers. If consent is to be genuinely informed and meaningful, it is hard to see how today’s surveillance-based advertising can be lawful at all,” she continued.
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Noyb is happy with Norway’s privacy and data protection authority’s ruling.
“We very much welcome this decision. Online adtech companies such as Xandr often operate in the background and are rarely held accountable for their practices. This sets a valuable precedent for similar cases,” Felix Mikolasch, data protection lawyer at noyb, said in response to the fine.
As of writing, this is the highest fine the Norwegian Consumer Council has ever issued.
Grindr was previously fined 65 million Norwegian kroner (around $6.8 million) following a similar complaint from the Norwegian Consumer Council, after the Court of Appeal upheld the Norwegian data protection authority’s decision in 2025.
