Grindr will pay £26m to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of users in the UK who allege that the US dating app shared highly sensitive personal information, including in some cases their HIV status, with advertising companies.

The settlement brings to an end a two-year legal battle, after the UK law firm Austen Hays filed a claim at the high court of England and Wales in April 2024 on behalf of Grindr users alleging violations of UK privacy laws during a period up to early 2020.

The London law firm represented 12,000 people, who will receive an average compensation of £2,167 each, if the £26m is equally distributed.

Grindr was founded in 2009 to make it easier to coordinate hookups for gay men. It now claims to be the world’s largest dating app for gay, bi, trans and queer people, with nearly 15 million users around the world.

Grindr said in a US regulatory filing that it had resolved the UK group action related to what it described as “historical data practices before 2020”, when Grindr was owned and controlled by the Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech.

The California company said: “The settlement includes no findings or admission of liability. While Grindr disputes the allegations, it recognises and acknowledges the distress and loss of trust expressed by some of its UK users regarding that pre-2020 period.”

As part of the UK settlement, Grindr agreed to pay £13m by the end of this year, and a further £13m by the end of March 2027.

Six years ago, Grindr was sold to the investment group San Vicente Acquisition in a $608m deal and appointed new management, after a US government national security panel raised concerns that personal data of US users could be accessed and used by China’s government. In 2022, Grindr floated on the New York Stock Exchange through a merger with a Spac (special purpose acquisition company) in a deal that valued the app at $2.1bn (£1.55bn). It is now worth $2.65bn (£1.96bn).

The company said in the filing that it had overhauled its privacy programme since 2020, “with a keen focus on the unique needs of its community”. It added that “Grindr is and remains a safe space for users, committed to transparency, user control and responsible data practices”.

Austen Hays’ parent firm, Gateley, said: “While Grindr disputes the allegations, it recognises and acknowledges the distress and loss of trust expressed by some of its UK users regarding that pre-2020 period.

“We thank our clients for trusting us with this sensitive case.”

Grindr, based in west Hollywood, announced in April 2018 it would stop sharing users’ HIV status with third-party companies after a report by Norwegian researchers revealed data sharing with two companies.

In 2021 Norway’s data protection authority fined Grindr 65m Norwegian krone (£4.8m) – 10% of its global revenues – for violating data protection rules. Grindr appealed but Norway’s court of appeal upheld the decision and fine last October.

As Grindr shared its users’ personal data for advertising purposes, the court of appeal concluded that the company’s claim that it did “‘not sell your personal user information to third parties for advertising purposes’ is clearly misleading”.