Swipe right - but watch your data: Dating app hit with data complaint
According to NOYB, the so-called AI Icebreakers feature on Bumble for Friends uses personal profile information without consent in breach of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The feature, introduced in December 2023, is powered by OpenAI and it allows the app to access people's personal profile data in order to AI-generate an opening message based on the information people have shared on the platform, NOYB said.
'Bumble forces its AI features on millions of European users without ever asking them for their consent. Instead, their personal data is being sent to OpenAI and fed into the company's AI systems,' said Lisa Steinfeld, a data protection lawyer at NOYB.
The complaint has been filed with the Austrian data protection authority.
AI tools
AI tools have come under scrutiny in recent months from data protection authorities across Europe. For example, Meta has been asked to improve to its artificial intelligence tool MetaAI following concerns from the Irish Data Protection Authority over the use of public data from Facebook and Instagram accounts used to train its Large Language Models (LLMs).
The company remains under scrutiny and needs to report back to the Irish Data Protection Authority (DPA) in October, the regulator said in a statement.
It is estimated that some 50 million people globally use the dating app Bumble. While the app doesn't provide specific user numbers for Europe, Germany alone accounted for 1.45 million users in 2024.
Other dating apps, including Grindr have also faced privacy complaints and fines due to their data sharing practices, in particular with third-party advertising companies. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority imposed a fine of NOK 65 million (approximately €5.8 million) on Grindr for these violations.
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