At the Intersection of Technology, Law, and Business
April 02, 2019 - Regulatory

CFIUS’s Axe to Grind: China’s Kunlun Reportedly Forced to Divest Grindr Amid Concerns Over Sensitive Personal Data

Google Ordered to Comply with Warrant for Foreign-Stored User Data

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is reportedly forcing Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. Ltd. (“Kunlun”) to divest Grindr LLC (“Grindr”), the dating app Kunlun acquired in 2016. Much of the popular press is focusing on the seemingly remote connection between a popular dating platform for gay, bi, trans, and queer people on the one hand, and the national security of the United States on the other. The circumstances, however, highlight perfectly one of the U.S. government’s keenest national security concerns: the ability of foreign governments, and in particular the Chinese government, to collect and potentially exploit data related to U.S. citizens.

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