The Nigeria Data Protection Commission has said it is investigating over 400 cases of privacy breaches involving online loan apps.<\/p>\n
Cases of data privacy breaches have become prevalent in recent times due to the proliferation of digital lending platforms.<\/p>\n
The commission made this known in its 2023 Annual Report made available to newsmen on Thursday.<\/p>\n
It noted that its ongoing investigations have revealed that \u201cloan apps are overly intrusive.\u201d<\/p>\n
NDPC is also seeking a ban or restriction on mobile numbers found to have been used by lenders to breach the privacy of their customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey generally violate the principles of Data Protection and Privacy because they have access to contacts, pictures, messages, etc. of data subjects,\u201d the commission stated.<\/p>\n
This indicated that despite an April 2023 policy introduced by Google banning loan apps from accessing photos and contacts of users, the practice has continued.<\/p>\n
Acknowledging that privacy breaches by loan apps are a systemic problem, the commission said it is also adopting a systemic solution by working with other regulators and third-party platforms being used by the lenders.<\/p>\n
A user of a loan app, Haruna Michael, who spoke to our correspondent on Thursday, said that one of the digital lenders used his photos and tagged him as a fleeing criminal because he defaulted in paying the loan he received within the stipulated time.<\/p>\n
He said his contacts were reached and he was reported as a fraudster.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver 400 cases of privacy breaches involving shadowy loan sharks are being addressed at the systemic level.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe commission has now drafted the Nigeria Data Protection Act-General Application and Implementation Directive which addresses the abetment of data breaches, the need for data ethics and privacy by design and by default among others.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder abetment, the third-party platforms through which data privacy breaches take place will now be required to deny access to those who use their platforms for privacy breaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cOrganisations, particularly communication networks should be willing to restrict or ban telephone lines that are implicated in privacy violations,\u201d the commission said.<\/p>\n
The NDPC added that it is also collaborating with regulators under the Joint Enforcement and Regulatory Taskforce to sanitise the digital lending space.<\/p>\n
It noted that the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission now requires lending companies to obtain data protection clearance from NDPC before\u00a0operation.<\/p>\n
Punch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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