You are here: Home » Adult Webmaster News » Who Knows What the Chinese Will Do With Your Grindr...
Select year   and month 
 
March 28, 2019

Who Knows What the Chinese Will Do With Your Grindr Info?

CYBERSPACE—Everyone, even straight people, knows what Grindr is, right? You sign up, as 27 million other guys already have, put in some personal information and a photo or video, and get ready to be sent pics of other guys in your area who are looking to hook up—and by swiping the screen left or right, you either make contact and perhaps chat with them, or ignore them. But in the modern age, where companies make fairly big bucks selling people's personal information, the stuff Grindr collects on its 27 million customers could be worth a pretty penny—and according to the U.S. government, possibly damaging to the country's security. Grindr's been around for almost exactly 10 years—it first went online on March 25, 2009—and describes itself as "the world's largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people." By all measures, it's been pretty successful—which may be why, in 2016, a Chinese gaming company called Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd. bought a majority stake in the app for $93 million—not exactly small change—and paid even more to fully acquire it in 2018. But Kunlun may have made a mistake last August by announcing that it planned to take Grindr public through an IPO—and that may have brought it to the attention of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which is chaired by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Recently—the exact date hasn't been revealed—CFIUS informed Kunlun that it would have to sell the app because Kunlun's ownership "constitutes a national security risk," according to two sources contacted by Reuters News Service. "Data is the new frontier in espionage and exploitation of weaknesses, whether they be those of individuals or institutions," said Brett Bruen, the former director of global engagement in the Obama administration. "Any tech company, whether it's an LGBTQ dating app or a shopping site, is a target-rich environment." Just what the alleged "security risk" is hasn't been revealed, but considering how much data Grindr collects on its users—current location, sexually explicit photos, videos and chats, and even the user's HIV status—it's not inconceivable that some unscrupulous individual or company with access to that material could use it to blackmail the user into paying or doing something the U.S. government might not like. In fact, U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to Grindr last year inquiring of Kunlun how it would be protecting its users' privacy. Kunlun's answer, if there was one, apparently was less than satisfactory. “CFIUS made the right decision in unwinding Grindr’s acquisition. It should continue to draw a line in the sand for future foreign acquisition of sensitive personal data,” Reuters reported Markey and Blumenthal as stating yesterday. So Kunlun is now in the process of selling Grindr and has hired investment bank Cowen Inc. to handle the sale process. No Chinese (or Russian or Iranian or Korean or Venezuelan or Turkish) companies need apply.

 
home | register | log in | add URL | add premium URL | forums | news | advertising | contact | sitemap
copyright © 1998 - 2009 Adult Webmasters Association. All rights reserved.