Privacy Foundation Noyb Files GDPR Complaint Against Grindr
Privacy foundation Noyb of activist Max Schrems has filed a GDPR complaint against Grindr. When requesting someone’s personal information, the dating app asks for a photo of both the identity card and the e-mail address. According to Schrems, this is against the AVG rules.
According to Noyb, dating app Grindr does not ask for verifiable personal information during the registration process on the app, because anonymity is one of the focal points of the platform and is a promise to the user. According to Noyb, that anonymity expires as soon as users want to find out what personal information Grindr has collected about them. This request can be made in the Grindr app as well as on the website and is subject to compliance with GDPR legislation.
According to Noyb, however, the application on the website goes wrong. The organization states in the AVG complaint that Grindr asks for a photo of an official identity document with such an application that shows the date of birth, the name of the person and his photo. The applicant must also provide a photo showing him or her with a sheet of paper with his or her email address on it.
“Grindr should not request such additional information,” Noyb suggested in the GDPR complaint it filed with the Swiss privacy authority. “The collection of such information is contrary to GDPR legislation that states that information collection must be kept to a minimum. That legislation allows for additional information to be requested, but then there must be reasonable doubt about the identity of the applicant in matter.” That is not the case, according to Noyb.
Grindr would have enough information about the applicant to identify it, according to the organization. In the complaint, Noyb refers to the user’s email address that is already requested during the GDPR request and to which a date of birth and password is linked during the registration of that user. Noyb states that Grindr is able to comply with the GDPR request in a privacy-friendly manner and refers to the app in which there is a tool to request a copy of the collected data without having to provide additional information.