Norway fines Microsoft ad unit $9.6 million over Grindr data misuse
The Norwegian Data Protection Authority fined a Microsoft subsidiary $9.6 million in April for alleged misuse of Grindr user data between 2018 and 2020.
Authority cites lack of consent
The regulator stated that Xandr did not secure explicit permission to use sensitive information from dating app users. Instead, the company assumed the dating platform had already received approval for sharing personal details with advertisers. This assumption formed the basis of the charge against the advertising technology firm.
Penalty sets new record
Officials described the monetary penalty as the largest ever issued by this specific national data protection agency. The calculation considered the total annual revenue generated by the subsidiary during the relevant period. Investigators determined that data flowed to thousands of different actors within the advertising network without user knowledge.
Complaint originated in 2020
The legal process began after a consumer group filed a formal complaint regarding unlawful commercial sharing of personal information. The authority noted that these specific violations occurred over a two-year span ending in April 2020. Xandr now has three weeks to respond to the decision before the matter concludes.
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