TikTok monitored Grindr activity through third-party tracker, privacy group alleges

December 17, 2025 – 5:47 PM

A person holds a smartphone with Tik Tok logo displayed in this picture illustration taken November 7, 2019. Picture taken November 7, 2019. (Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)

How logistics industry experts plan to ‘move forward’ after COVID-19

Reasons why Filipinos love Korean culture and products

Why Batangas is the destination for budget-friendly family holidays

TikTok, Grindr violated GDPR via cross-app tracking, group says

TikTok used cross-app data for ads, analytics

TikTok was previously fined 530 million euros by Ireland

A privacy advocacy group, noyb, filed complaints to Austria’s data protection authority on Wednesday against TikTok, Grindr

GRND.N

and AppsFlyer, alleging these companies breached regional privacy laws, risking exposure of sensitive data.

noyb said TikTok tracked a particular user’s Grindr activity via data firm AppsFlyer, raising concerns about breaches of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

It urged Austrian regulators to impose fines and compel the companies to cease such practices.

Officials from TikTok, Grindr and AppsFlyer were not im

media

noyb told Reuters the user discovered, via a data-access request, that TikTok had accessed sensitive details from other apps, including the person’s “use of Grindr, LinkedIn” and a product they had added to a shopping cart.

TikTok only disclosed this information to the user after repeated enquiries, failing to comply with GDPR’s transparency requirements.

TikTok used the data for ads, analytics

TikTok said the data was used for reasons including “personalized advertising, analytics, security,” according to noyb.

GDPR provides special protection for sensitive information such as sexual orientation which could spur discrimination, noyb said.

—Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk; Editing by Bernadette Baum