Safaricom denies allegations of sharing customer information with third parties

Safaricom has come out to strongly deny allegations contained in a story by a leading local newspaper that it has been illegally sharing customer data with third parties.

In a statement released on Thursday, Kenya’s largest telecommunications company clarified that only share data belonging to its customers when police produce court orders justifying such action.

“Safaricom notes various conversations regarding data privacy and sharing of customer information with security agencies and other third parties and wishes to make the following statement,” said Safaricom.

It went on, “That we respect our customers' privacy and adhere strictly by the country’s data protection laws. As such we do not share any customer data unless explicitly required of us via a court order.”

The telco clarifies its Call Data Record system could not reveal a customer’s live location and movements as such information is only generated when a call is terminated or after a text message is received.

The reply by the leading network provider in Kenya comes days after Daily Nation published an article in which it alleged that Safaricom normally shares its customers’ data with law enforcement officers.

The sensational story by the Kenyan newspaper attracted wide outrage from Kenyans on various social media platforms who have been attacking Safaricom accusing it of violating data privacy regulations.

However, Safaricom has sought to assure the users of its various telecommunications products of the privacy of their data in its possession indicating that it was offering honest and transparent services.

This also comes after the British Standards Institute (BSI) awarded Safaricom an ISO 27701 Privacy Information Management System (PIMS) certificate after auditing its compliance to data privacy laws and policies.