South Africa’s Information Regulator is currently investigating a complaint against the caller ID and spam-blocking app Truecaller, which has been accused of violating multiple sections of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
The complaint, which was received following an anonymous tip-off, is still under review, and an investigator will be assigned to the case for further investigation.
“We are still within the timeframe to process the complaint and allocate it to an investigator, who will then engage further with the complainant and the responsible party against whom the complaint was lodged,” said Nomzamo Zondi, a spokeswoman for the Information Regulator. The regulator has not disclosed the identity of the complainant.
Truecaller, a popular app for identifying unknown callers and blocking spam, relies on user-supplied data to function. When users register, they provide their name and phone number, which allows other Truecaller users to identify them during incoming calls. This practice is generally compliant with privacy laws as users consent to share their information with the app.
The potential issue, however, arises when users allow Truecaller to access their phone’s address book. This enables the app to upload contact information of individuals who are not on Truecaller, potentially violating their privacy. According to POPIA, Truecaller may be required to notify those individuals that their personal information has been uploaded to the app’s database via a third party’s consent.
The controversy surrounding Truecaller is not new. In 2022, corporate watchdog Viceroy Research accused the app of functioning as adware and spyware, alleging that Truecaller had moved its servers from Europe to India to avoid the implications of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The report claimed that Truecaller’s data practices, including its reliance on user-generated contact information, would be in violation of GDPR if the app had remained based in Europe.
If the complaints against Truecaller under POPIA are proven to be valid, the Information Regulator may face a dilemma: balancing the enforcement of privacy laws against the app’s widespread popularity in combating spam calls. While Truecaller is regarded as one of the most effective tools for detecting and rejecting spam and robo-calls, its data collection methods raise significant concerns regarding user consent and privacy.
TechCentral reached out to Truecaller for comment on the ongoing investigation but had not received a response by the time of publication.
