Myanmar civil society groups said on Tuesday they are suing the Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor. They alleged that the giant is sharing customer data with the ruling military, which allowed the junta to track, imprison and kill civilians.
Telenor was one of the largest foreign investors in Myanmar. It sold its business in Myanmar after the 2021 military coup to avoid European Union sanctions. This move was done after pressure from the junta to activate intercept surveillance technology.
However, before selling to a new majority-owner with a history of business ties to the military, the claimants allege that Telenor handed over data from some of its 18 million customers to comply with requests from the military.
Telenor’s Stance
In response, Telenor said in a statement to Reuters that it did not see anything in the legal notice that had not already been addressed, including in previous police and court investigations in Norway.
It said the company found itself in a “terrible and tragic situation” in Myanmar with “no good options” as disobeying orders from the junta would have “been perceived as terrorism and sabotage, and would have put employees in direct danger.”
“Like all operators in any country, Telenor Myanmar was legally required to provide traffic data to the authorities,” the company said.
Joseph Wilde-Ramsing of the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), a nonprofit organisation working with the civil society groups, said the data handed over included “call logs and location data that could be used to track down the junta’s political opponents and their family members”.
In a statement, the groups said they had sent a pre-action letter to Telenor, the first step in bringing a lawsuit. They said the sale of Telenor to majority-owner Shwe Byain Phyu in March 2022 effectively granted the military “unfettered access” to customer data.
Shwe Byain Phyu and Myanmar’s military government have not responded to the claims yet.
Myanmar Crisis
Myanmar has been in crisis since the coup and ensuing military crackdown on protests, which sparked a nationwide armed rebellion.
The junta has killed almost 7,000 people and arrested close to 30,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a nonprofit monitoring group. The military denies accusations it has targeted civilians and says it is fighting “terrorists”.
The civil society groups bringing the lawsuit, Defend Myanmar Democracy and the Myanmar Internet Project, said several people were arbitrarily detained and tortured in custody after their Telenor data was shared, and at least one person was killed.
Lawmaker Executed
Phoe Zeya Thaw, a popular hip hop artist and lawmaker, was executed alongside three other activists accused of helping carry out “terror acts” in 2022, prompting an international outcry.
The lawmaker’s wife, Tha Zin, who is among the claimants, said in the statement she was “terribly disturbed and shocked” by Telenor’s link to his arrest. She added that his arrest came a few weeks after the firm passed data from his cell phone to the military.
The statement did not cite specific evidence, but a lawyer at Simonsen Vogt Wiig, the firm representing the groups, said the decision to hand over data went “all the way to the top” of Telenor.
Ko Ye, another claimant in the lawsuit, told Reuters many Myanmar people chose to use Telenor’s network because they believed it was the safest option due to its international connections.
(with inputs from Reuters)
