Myanmar groups to sue Telenor over data sharing with junta

By Poppy McPherson

BANGKOK (Reuters) -Myanmar civil society groups said on Tuesday they are suing the Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor, alleging it shared customer data with the Southeast Asian nation’s ruling military that allowed the junta to track, imprison and kill civilians.

The firm, which is majority-owned by the Norwegian government, sold its business in Myanmar after the 2021 military coup that unseated an elected government, to avoid European Union sanctions after pressure from the junta to activate intercept surveillance technology.

The claimants allege Telenor, which was one of the largest foreign investors in the Southeast Asian nation, handed over data from some of its 18 million customers to comply with requests from the military before selling to a new majority-owner with a history of business ties to the military.

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 Center 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, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. 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 did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did Myanmar’s military government. 

LAWMAKER EXECUTED

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.

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, which she said 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.

"Those corporations they have to respect our rights. Our data is part of our rights, they cannot do whatever they want," he said.

(Reporting by Poppy McPherson in Bangkok and Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)