Grindr – Court Ruling (Norway, 2023)

In 2020, the Norwegian Consumer Council (NCC), with the assistance of noyb’s legal analysis, filed a complaint to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority against the dating app Grindr. The Norwegian DPA fined Grindr NOK 65 million for failing to collect users' valid consent for sharing data with third parties for profiling and advertising purposes from the Grindr App (Datatilsynet - 20/02136-18). This decision was appealed by Grindr in February 2022. They argued that; Grindr does not process special categories of data, had obtained valid consent, that there was no legal basis for imposing a fine and that the DPA has misinterpreted Article 83 GDPR when applying the fine. The Norweigen DPA re-considered the case but found no reason to change its decision. The DPA submitted the case to the Norwegian Privacy Appeals Board (Personvernnemnda) in December 2022. Both Grindr and the NCC were given the opportunity to submit comments. In August 2023, Grindr requested the right to attend and speak during the case under [https://lovdata.no/dokument/LTI/forskrift/2018-06-15-876 section 5(5) of the Regulations on the processing of personal data,] and requested that the Board's consideration of the case be postponed until the Court of Justice had ruled on cases [https://curia.europa.eu/juris/fiche.jsf?id=C%3B446%3B21%3BRP%3B1%3BP%3B1%3BC2021%2F0446%2FP&nat=or&mat=or&pcs=Oor&jur=C%2CT%2CF&num=C-446&for=&jge=&dates=&language=en&pro=&cit=none%252CC%252CCJ%252CR%252C2008E%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252Ctrue%252Cfalse%252Cfalse&oqp=&td=%3BALL&avg=&lgrec=en&lg=&cid=3298842 C-446/21 Schrems v Facebook Ireland] and [https://curia.europa.eu/juris/liste.jsf?nat=or&mat=or&pcs=Oor&jur=C%2CT%2CF&num=C-21%252F23&for=&jge=&dates=&language=en&pro=&cit=none%252CC%252CCJ%252CR%252C2008E%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252C%252Ctrue%252Cfalse%252Cfalse&oqp=&td=%3BALL&avg=&lgrec=en&lg=&page=1&cid=3099852 C-21/23 Lindenapotheke] which at the time were both prelimary refer