Nigerians Can Remove Their Numbers from Truecaller After Privacy Case Dismissal

Truecaller says people in Nigeria can remove their phone numbers and associated caller identity from its searchable service, including those who do not use the application.

The company’s position follows the dismissal of a privacy case by the Lagos High Court. The case was brought by non-users, including the Incorporated Trustees of the Data Privacy Lawyers Association, who challenged Truecaller’s collection, storage and disclosure of phone numbers under Section 37 of the Nigerian Constitution and Part V, Sections 34–38, of the Nigeria Data Protection Act.

Court rejects claims and requested remedies

The applicants asked the court to stop Truecaller from processing non-users’ data, order the deletion of information already held and award ₦300 million in general and exemplary damages.

According to the reported ruling, the court rejected the applicants’ claims of injury, their requests for prohibitory and mandatory injunctions, and their damages request. The court also found that the applicants had not established an actionable constitutional privacy violation with sufficient evidence.

However, the judgment did not accept that consent given by a Truecaller user to upload contact details automatically amounted to consent from people whose numbers appeared in that contact list.

“The user of the app voluntarily consented to the upload of contact details on the user’s phone to the respondent is insufficient to establish implied consent,” the court said. It added that accepting such an argument “would completely eviscerate the rule of privacy and the definition of consent as provided by the Act.”

Dispute over legal grounds for processing

Truecaller argued that consent was not its only legal basis for processing information. The company relied on public-interest and legitimate-interest provisions under Section 25 of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, as well as a public-safety exception under Section 45 of the Constitution.

The company also described its search function as a number-for-name system, meaning that a person searching for an identity must already possess the relevant phone number. Excerpts from the ruling indicated that contact information is uploaded when a user activates an optional Enhanced Search feature in certain non-store versions of the application and confirms authorisation to share contacts.

The judgment, as reported, indicated that legitimate interest is limited where it overrides the fundamental rights, freedoms and interests of the person whose data is being processed. The court also said Truecaller had a responsibility to protect personal data and prevent its disclosure to third parties without legitimate justification.

Truecaller said it welcomed the court’s recognition that caller identification and spam detection serve a public-safety purpose in protecting Nigerians from scams, fraud and harassment. A company spokesperson said, “The Lagos State High Court dismissed this suit and refused all the reliefs sought.”

Unlisting option remains available

Truecaller said its unlisting portal is available to anyone, regardless of whether they use the service. People can visit truecaller.com/unlisting to request removal of their number and associated caller identity.

“Anyone, whether or not they use Truecaller, can remove their number from our service at any time through our unlisting page,” the spokesperson said.

The company said that after a number is unlisted, it keeps a one-way, non-reversible cryptographic hash to prevent an accidentally deleted number from being uploaded again. Truecaller also said it would continue operating its Nigerian service without suspending or redesigning it as a result of the decision.

“We take our obligations under the Nigeria Data Protection Act seriously and will continue to engage constructively on these issues,” the spokesperson said.

Applicants plan appeal

Olumide Babalola, who represented the applicants, said they plan to appeal the court’s treatment of injury arising from privacy violations.

“The only issue the court found, which helps them, is that we did not attach evidence of damages,” Babalola said. He added that this “does not detract from the findings on lack of consent and legitimate interest.”

The case therefore leaves unresolved questions about available remedies under Nigeria’s data-protection framework, while the unlisting portal remains Truecaller’s stated route for non-users who do not want their caller identity displayed on the service.