Dispute over personal data: EU imposes million-dollar fine on Tinder

Anyone who requests a copy of their personal data from Tinder apparently does not receive all of the information. EU data protection officers therefore accuse the operator of misconduct. The Match Group wants to take action against the fine imposed in the millions.

The EU has fined the operator of the dating app Tinder millions of dollars because the app does not give users sufficient access to their personal data. When downloading data, the app omits certain categories without informing the user - or only provides a summary, explained the responsible Irish data protection authority DPC. It therefore imposed a fine of eleven million euros on the Irish-based European subsidiary of Tinder operator Match Group.

"Although this tool was presented as a way for users to obtain a copy of their Tinder data, the DPC found that it does not provide users with all of their personal data," the Irish privacy advocates explained. A complete copy of all data is not necessary, but it must be explained "fairly and transparently" which data will be transmitted.

Because many US tech companies have their EU headquarters in Ireland, the country's data protection authority is responsible for their compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Irish DPC began its investigation into Tinder in 2020 and has now given Match Group three months to bring its data agreement into compliance with European regulations.

Match Group announced that it would appeal the decision. "Tinder has cooperated with the DPC throughout the investigation and we stand by the privacy protections we have put in place for our users," the company said.