A Nairobi resident has filed a lawsuit against the popular caller identification app Truecaller, accusing the company of violating Kenya's Data Protection Act of 2019. The suit, submitted to a Kenyan court, claims that Truecaller unlawfully disclosed users' personal information and transferred their data to India without obtaining proper user consent.
This legal action arises amid escalating privacy concerns in Kenya, highlighted by recent incidents during Gen Z protests, where several notable figures had their phone numbers exposed on social media, leading to harassment and threats.
Truecaller, which has rapidly gained popularity in Kenya since its arrival in 2018 and ranks among the top ten global users, is accused of failing to register as a data controller or processor in the country—a stipulation outlined in the Data Protection Act.
In addition, the complaint claims that Kenyan users' privacy rights are not as well protected as those in other nations.
The case follows Truecaller's similar struggles in Nigeria, where a class-action lawsuit was dismissed, and illustrates a global trend towards stricter enforcement of data protection rules.
