Policy · Updated 12 Oct, 05:37 pm IST

Norway fines Microsoft’s Xandr $9.6M over sharing Grindr users’ data

Why it matters for readers: It highlights that sharing sensitive personal data in ad auctions can trigger major privacy penalties.

The Norwegian regulator issued a 92 million crown fine to Xandr for sharing data that revealed Grindr users' sexual orientation, the biggest fine it has issued.1
Xandr relayed users' sensitive data to thousands of advertisers in automated ad auctions from July 2018 to April 2020, according to the regulator.1
The fine was calculated based on Xandr's revenue at the time, not Microsoft's, because Microsoft did not own Xandr during the period under investigation.1
The regulator had previously fined Grindr 65 million crowns in 2021 for the same breaches, and Xandr has three weeks to appeal the decision.1
Xandr argued it had assumed Grindr obtained users' consent, but the authority rejected that defense and said adtech intermediar ies cannot pass blame to others.1

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