LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Gay dating app Grindr ( GRND )

is facing a mass data protection lawsuit in London from

hundreds of users who allegedly had their private information,

including HIV status, shared with third parties without consent,

a law firm said on Monday.

Austen Hays, which said the lawsuit is being filed at

London's High Court, said thousands of Grindr ( GRND ) users in the

United Kingdom may have been affected.

The firm alleges users' highly sensitive information,

including HIV status and the date of their latest HIV test, were

provided to third parties for commercial purposes.

A spokesperson for Grindr ( GRND ) said in a statement that it

planned to "respond vigorously to this claim, which appears to

be based on a mischaracterisation of practices from more than

four years ago".

Austen Hays said around 670 people had signed up to the

lawsuit over breaches said to have taken place between 2018 and

2020, with potentially thousands more joining the case.

"Grindr ( GRND ) owes it to the LGBTQ+ community it serves to

compensate those whose data has been compromised and have

suffered distress as a result," the firm's Managing Director

Chaya Hanoomanjee said in a statement.

The company must "ensure all its users are safe while using

the app, wherever they are, without fear that their data might

be shared with third parties," Hanoomanjee said.

Grindr's ( GRND ) spokesperson said: "We are committed to protecting

our users data and complying with all applicable data privacy

regulations, including in the UK.

"We are proud of our global privacy program and take privacy

extremely seriously."