3 ms·

>Between 2017 and early 2020, Grindr was selling precise location data to ad brokers. Well, that's quite scummy. Tends to enable bad actors in the first place.

by rl3 4y ago

>Between 2017 and early 2020, Grindr was selling precise location data to ad brokers. Well, that's quite scummy. Tends to enable bad actors in the first place. In January 2016, Grindr announced that it had sold a 60% stake in the company for $93 million to a Chinese video game development firm, Kunlun Tech Co Ltd (formerly Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd). In January 2018, Kunlun purchased the remainder of the company for $152 million. [0] Wasn't exactly the best steward for such a platform. [1][3[4] But hey, at least the founder feels bad about it. [2] I was about to suggest that something which amounts to a giant blackmail database is surely a significant national security risk, and further research indicates that it actually changed hands again for that reason. [3][4] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindr [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_China [2] https://www.queerty.com/grindr-founder-joel-simkhai-believes-created-monster-now-wants-slay-dragon-20221103 https://www.queerty.com/grindr-founder-joel-simkhai-believes... [3] https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/06/grindr-sold-china-national-security/ https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/06/grindr-sold-china-national... [4] https://www.theverge.com/interface/2019/3/28/18285274/grindr-national-security-cfius-china-kunlun-military https://www.theverge.com/interface/2019/3/28/18285274/grindr...

luckylion 4y ago
Selling data on your users sounds like a pretty average move for tech startups though, the connection to "they did it because China discriminates against LGBT" is pretty far-fetched, especially since they still had a minority position when that was happening. I expect they would've done the same if it had been a SF company that would've bought 60% of it in 2016.
- rl3 4y ago
  >... "they did it because China discriminates against LGBT" is pretty far-fetched ... I agree; that's not what I was trying to say, and I'm sure the primary motivator was money. You're correct, other dating apps did and still do sell data. [0] The point I was trying to make is that American consumers are already regarded as barely human from a privacy perspective by our own corporations. It gets worse from there (TikTok), and when you add a certain country's poor LGBTQ human rights record, it's just icing on the cake. By that point they really don't care. --- Match Group, for all their evil, currently states: Match Group does not sell the personal information of our users to any third party. [1] Then in the next paragraph: In particular, we do NOT use sensitive data, such as sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origins, religion, or precise geolocation data for advertising. [1] I like the "precise" part. Sounds like selling personal information to me, but I'm not a lawyer. [0] https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/796427696/study-grindr-tindr-and-other-apps-share-sensitive-personal-data-with-advertisers https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/796427696/study-grindr-tindr-... [1] https://mtch.com/privacy https://mtch.com/privacy

by rl3 4y ago

luckylion 4y ago

Selling data on your users sounds like a pretty average move for tech startups though, the connection to "they did it because China discriminates against LGBT" is pretty far-fetched, especially since they still had a minority position when that was happening. I expect they would've done the same if it had been a SF company that would've bought 60% of it in 2016.

rl3 4y ago
>... "they did it because China discriminates against LGBT" is pretty far-fetched ... I agree; that's not what I was trying to say, and I'm sure the primary motivator was money. You're correct, other dating apps did and still do sell data. [0] The point I was trying to make is that American consumers are already regarded as barely human from a privacy perspective by our own corporations. It gets worse from there (TikTok), and when you add a certain country's poor LGBTQ human rights record, it's just icing on the cake. By that point they really don't care. --- Match Group, for all their evil, currently states: Match Group does not sell the personal information of our users to any third party. [1] Then in the next paragraph: In particular, we do NOT use sensitive data, such as sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origins, religion, or precise geolocation data for advertising. [1] I like the "precise" part. Sounds like selling personal information to me, but I'm not a lawyer. [0] https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/796427696/study-grindr-tindr-and-other-apps-share-sensitive-personal-data-with-advertisers https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/796427696/study-grindr-tindr-... [1] https://mtch.com/privacy https://mtch.com/privacy