Investigative journalist Ronan Farrow has turned his attention to Grindr, raising concerns about how the LGBTQ+ dating app uses personal information to train its AI technology.

Farrow is best known for his 2017 reporting on sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein, which helped propel the #MeToo movement. Now, he is looking at how companies collect personal information to develop AI tools, beginning, in his own words, with “one for the gays”.

In a nearly three-minute video shared on social media, Farrow breaks down Grindr’s AI technology and explains how the app can use certain information without users actively agreeing to it

According to Grindr’s own privacy guide, the company requires consent to train its AI on sensitive information, including chat content, gender and precise location.

However, when it comes to what Grindr calls “limited data”, it’s a different story. This includes profile photos, age, display names and taps, which the company can use to train AI by default unless users choose to opt out.

Grindr says its AI technology is designed to improve users’ experiences through personalised recommendations, chat summaries and other features intended to help people connect.

But as Farrow points out, many users may not even realise their information is being used in this way.

The journalist also brings attention to Grindr’s history of handling sensitive personal information.

In 2021, Norway’s data protection authority fined Grindr 65 million Norwegian kroner, approximately €5.5 million, for sharing users’ personal information with advertising companies without valid consent. Grindr challenged the decision, but Norway’s court of appeal upheld the fine in October 2025.

More recently, on October 12, 2026, Norwegian regulators fined Microsoft’s advertising technology business, Xandr, 92 million kroner for unlawfully sharing Grindr users’ sensitive data with advertisers between 2018 and 2020.

Grindr has also faced scrutiny over its handling of users’ HIV information. In 2018, the company stopped sharing HIV status information with two outside firms after the practice was exposed.

In September 2026, Grindr agreed to pay £26 million to settle a lawsuit involving approximately 12,000 UK users who alleged that sensitive personal information, in some cases including HIV status, had been shared without their consent.

The company disputed the allegations and admitted no liability as part of the settlement.

Farrow also recalls the case of Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill, a senior official at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, who resigned in 2021 after Catholic news outlet The Pillar linked commercially available location data from Grindr usage to him.

Burrill later sued Grindr, alleging that its handling of his personal information led to his public identification. Grindr disputed those allegations.

For LGBTQ+ people, particularly those living in countries where same-sex relationships remain criminalised, the consequences of sensitive personal information becoming available to others can be serious.

Farrow also raises concerns about information already used to train AI. Opting out now does not necessarily mean you can remove previously processed information from a trained system.

In his video, Ronan Farrow walks viewers through the steps to disable Grindr’s AI data settings.

Users can access these controls through the app’s Settings, followed by Safety & Privacy Centre, Privacy, Privacy Settings and AI Technology Controls.

“Because Grindr won’t ask,” Farrow says.

You can watch Ronan Farrow’s full video below for more information and a walkthrough of how to opt out.

 

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