The U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment began investigating Grindr, the U.S. LGBTQ+ dating app, as early as July 2018 after the app was acquired by China’s Beijing Kunlun Tech in January of that year. The acquisition fuelled concerns about the app’s sensitive private data, including the HIV status of its three million-plus daily users, with some worried China could harvest that data for espionage purposes. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Kunlun is trying to sell Grindr after pressure from the U.S. committee over national security concerns. (NBC)

Talking point: The concerns over HIV data came after Grindr’s president, Scott Chen—first hired as CTO soon after the sale—proposed a partnership with a group of HIV researchers that had connections to the Chinese government. Grindr said it has never and has no intention to disclose the data to the Chinese government. However, NBC’s sources said changes to internal company communications—including using the Chinese app WeChat for some discussions—meant they couldn’t ensure the app’s data remained secure.