An article from TheConversation.com has looked into if personal data from Grindr will be safe in China. This piece comes in the wake of the news that Grindr has been given permission by its Chinese owners to go public on the Shenzhen stock exchange.
Grindr is owned by Beijing Kunlun Tech, a Chinese gaming company. People are worried that the data of users may be processed through the Chinese government, as per data localisation requirements in the Asian country.
This is concerning because of the way members of the LGBTQ+ community are treated in China. A number of non-heterosexual websites have previously been censored and shut down, because they were considered “abnormal”.
The biggest gay social network in the world, Blued, is based in China and has been funded by Beijing News, which is run by the state. This suggests that, in order for a gay platform to survive, it should be linked to the government.
Obviously, Western users of Grindr might be concerned about who their personal data is being shared with.
The Conversation suggests that users of Chinese-owned apps “urgently need to ask what rights they do and don’t have to their data.”
Grindr responded to The Conversation’s article by saying: “Grindr has never disclosed any user data (regardless of citizenship) to the Chinese government nor do we intend to. Grindr remains an American company governed and protected by the laws of the United States.
“The privacy and security of our users’ personal data is a top priority for Grindr. That’s why, among other things, Grindr utilises highly sophisticated, state of the art data encryption, industry-leading security protocols, and extensive network penetration and application testing. Grindr also utilises anonymised data storage solutions to ensure our users’ privacy and security.”
Read the full article here.