Norway fines dating app Grindr $7.16M over breaching privacy rules

French president warns against telling Europeans what words to say and not to say; author Douglas Murray reacts on'Fox & Friends.' Norway's data privacy watchdog on Wednesday fined gay dating app Grindr 65 million kroner ($7.16 million) for sending sensitive personal data to hundreds of potential advertising partners without users' consent -- a breach of strict European Union privacy rules. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority said it imposed its highest fine to date because the California-based company didn't comply with the EU's tough data protection regulations. Norway isn't a member of the 27-nation bloc but closely mirrors EU rules. Grindr said the agency's findings related to consent policies from years ago, not its current practices, and that it is considering its next steps, including an appeal. The data watchdog "relies on a series of flawed findings, introduces many untested legal perspectives, and the proposed fine is therefore still entirely out of proportion with those flawed findings," said Grindr's chief privacy officer, Shane Wiley.