Chinese owner of Grindr to sell app before June 2020 at US insistence

Grindr’s Chinese owner has agreed with US authorities that it will sell the gay dating app before June 2020. The US insisted on this out of concern for national security, because Grindr’s database contains a lot of privacy-sensitive information.

The originally American app Grindr came into the hands of the Chinese game company Beijing Kunlun Tech between 2016 and 2018. This happened, according to Reuters news agency, through two separate deals that were not reported to Cfius at the time. That is the American committee that investigates security risks in investments by foreign companies.

The Cfius is concerned that Grindr’s database and thus the privacy of the app’s gay users are not sufficiently secure in Chinese hands. That database contains quite a bit of personal information, from a user’s location and messages to sometimes their HIV status.

The Cfius asked Beijing Kunlun Tech in March to get rid of Grindr. The game company has resigned itself to this this week and is said to be in talks with an investment bank for the sale. As part of the agreement, operations in China will cease and Beijing Kunlun Tech will no longer have access to the personal data of the app’s users.

The Chinese company further agrees that its Grindr headquarters will remain in America, that two of the three board members will be Americans, and that the board of directors must be approved by the Cfius.