Following an investigation by Ugandan-based civil society organization, Unwanted Witness that exposed SafeBoda for alleged data privacy malpractices, the ride-hailing company has refuted the allegations.
According to a statement shared by SafeBoda to this website, Leah Waweru, the Head of Marketing at SafeBoda refuted the allegations stating that the company does not invade its’ users privacy nor share data with third-party vendors adding that SafeBoda understands the seriousness that underscores online privacy.
“Nothing we do is outside of the consent and permission of our customers, and our privacy processes are in line with best practices world over. Our iron-clad policies and statutes are in place to ensure that our customers’ details are protected, both now and in the future. Our customers can rest assured that their data and interests could not be safer with us”, she added
On Wednesday 15th, 2020, Unwanted Witness released a report implicating SafeBoda in sharing their client’s personal data with third parties without their knowledge or permission as required by Section 7 of the Data Protection and Privacy Act of Uganda, raising legal issues as well as questions of trust.
In the report, the civil society organization disclosed details about ways the ride-hailing app shared access to users’ data with other tech firms like Facebook and CleverTap. They explain that in carrying out research, they reviewed the startup’s privacy policy and compared it to how the app actually operates, a number of discrepancies were identified
In response to the report, Mrs. Leah noted that; SafeBoda only collects, processes, and holds personal data for the specific purposes set out in Section 2.1 of the Data Protection Policy ( available on customers’ apps). These purposes include; improving customer experience, analyzing customer user behavior to be able to have insight-driven, impactful marketing campaigns and also, knowing how to best interact with our customers in the pursuit of providing better services.
“SafeBoda takes customer data and the privacy and protection of your personal information very seriously. Trust being one of the core values we have built the brand on, SafeBoda does not, never has and never will sell user information”, she added.