Truecaller says anyone in Nigeria, whether or not they use the app, can remove their phone number and name from its caller-ID database. The statement follows a Lagos State High Court ruling that dismissed a privacy case brought on behalf of people who never signed up for the service, TechCabal reported on 28 September.
What the case was about
The applicants, including the Incorporated Trustees of the Data Privacy Lawyers Association, argued that Truecaller breaks Section 37 of the Constitution and Part V of the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA) when it collects, stores and shows the numbers and names of non-users. They asked the court to stop the processing, order deletion of the data and award ₦300 million in damages.
The court refused all of those requests. Truecaller welcomed what it called the court’s recognition that caller identification and spam detection “serve an important public-safety purpose” in protecting Nigerians from scams, fraud and harassment.
A split decision on consent
The judgment is not a clean win for Truecaller’s data model. The court rejected the idea that a user who uploads their phonebook gives consent on behalf of everyone in it. Accepting that theory, the judge said, “would completely eviscerate the rule of privacy”. It also said legitimate interest under the NDPA cannot override a person’s fundamental rights.
The claim failed because the court found the applicants had not proved, with evidence, that their constitutional right to privacy had actually been breached. Their lawyer, Olumide Babalola, who chairs the Nigerian Bar Association’s Data Protection Committee, said the only point that helped Truecaller was the lack of evidence of damage, and that the applicants plan to appeal.
How to remove your number
- Go to Truecaller’s unlisting page at truecaller.com/unlisting.
- Enter your number and follow the verification steps.
- Truecaller says it keeps only a one-way, non-reversible “hash” of an unlisted number so that it is not re-added when another user syncs their contacts.
Why it matters
The ruling is one of the first Nigerian court decisions to examine the NDPA in detail. Its view that one person cannot consent for another is likely to be cited in future disputes involving apps built on contact lists, caller ID and social discovery, even though Truecaller says it will not change or suspend its Nigerian service.
Source: TechCabal.
