Tinder Under Fire In Norway Over ‘Unfair’ Terms & Conditions

Tinder has come under fire over claims that its terms and conditions breach European law.

This accusation comes from the Norwegian Consumer Council, who recently implicated Tinder rival Happn for failing to fulfil its promises about the sharing and storing of its user data.

And now the group has taken aim at Tinder, saying that its “unbalanced and unfair” terms give the dating app control over the content that users upload.

This puts the user in a “lawless void” with regards to the ownership and control of their own content, such as pictures, chat logs and video.

Tinder’s terms say:

“By posting Content as part of the Service, you automatically grant to the Company, its affiliates, licensees and successors, an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, fully paid-up, worldwide right and license to (i) use, copy, store, perform, display, reproduce, record, play, adapt, modify and distribute the Content, (ii) prepare derivative works of the Content or incorporate the Content into other works, and (iii) grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing in any media now known or hereafter created.”

But in its review of the terms, the Norwegian Consumer Council alleged that the user loses control of their pictures and other user generated content for ever.

In addition to this, it says Tinder can change their terms at any time without giving notice to their users, accessing too much information from apps like Facebook and Instagram, and can exclude and delete user accounts without justification.

Finn Myrstad, the Director of Digital Policy at the Norwegian Consumer Council said: “The app has access to sensitive and personal information and should have terms in line with European law which show that they respect their users.

“Tinder cannot set rules that violate European legislation. The service clearly targets a European and Norwegian audience by providing the app and service in both English and Norwegian, and thus Norwegian and European law applies.”

And therefore the Council has filed a formal complaint to the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman, to assess the legality of the terms, as well as sharing their analysis with consumer groups and authorities across Europe.

The investigation by the Norwegian Consumer Council is part of its “Appfail” campaign, where the group analyses the terms, privacy policies and behaviour of 20 mobile apps.

The purpose is to “uncover and analyse potential threats to consumer protection, hidden in plain sight in the end user terms and privacy policies of apps.”

In response to the claims made, Tinder released a statement saying: “If and when authorities bring up larger privacy concerns, we always take them into consideration and, if applicable to our users, take steps to implement any necessary changes. We are committed to protecting our users’ privacy and strive to uphold a fair and trusted privacy policy.”

Find out more about the Appfail campaign here.