Telenor, a telecommunications company majority-owned by the Norwegian state, is facing a class-action lawsuit in Norway. The lawsuit, filed by a Swedish non-profit called the Justice and Accountability Initiative on behalf of over 1,200 people, alleges that Telenor's Myanmar subsidiary shared call logs and location data of suspected political opponents with the country's military junta after the 2021 coup. This data sharing is claimed to have exposed activists to repression, leading to the execution of at least one prominent activist and the prosecution of another.
The lawsuit seeks 9,000 euros (approximately $10,524) per customer whose data was shared. Telenor, which has since exited Myanmar, stated it believes the lawsuit contains nothing the company has not already addressed and views it as unlikely to succeed. The company sold its Myanmar business after the 2021 coup, reportedly to avoid EU sanctions after pressure from the junta to activate intercept surveillance technology.
Myanmar civil society groups have also expressed intentions to sue Telenor, accusing the company of endangering customers by providing their data to the junta. Activists allege that Telenor's actions played a role in propping up the military regime, helping them to arrest dissidents who were subsequently jailed, tortured, and in some cases, executed. Telenor's own transparency reports reportedly indicate its compliance with data requests.
Aung Thu, an activist, recounted that after two weeks of torture failed to make him betray his colleagues, his interrogators requested data on him from Telenor, which was then the largest telecom operator in Myanmar. This highlights the activists' belief that they were betrayed and that Telenor's actions compromised their safety and freedom.
