12 November 2024

Safaricom has strongly denied allegations that it aids suspected law enforcement officers-led abductions by sharing customer information with Kenyan police.

The company reaffirmed its commitment to customer data privacy, stating that customer data is only provided when lawfully mandated by a court of law.

“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,” said Safaricom in a statement.

The statement follows recent accusations alleging that the telco gave the police free access to sensitive customer information, including Call Data Records (CDRs), which they used to trace down individuals accused of committing crimes, infringing on their privacy rights. Safaricom pointed out that CDRs do not provide real-time location or movement information about clients.

“That for information purposes a customer’s CDR does not show any live location and movements of customers but is generated after a call is terminated and for text messages once they are sent or received and this is for purposes of billing only,” said Safaricom.