The Adentan Circuit Court has ordered Bolt Holdings OU to pay GH₵1.9 million in compensatory damages to Justice Noah Adade, after he discovered his name and photo listed as the driver responding to his own ride request.
The case, presided over by Judge Sedinam Awo Kwadam, was heard on Wednesday, September 18, 2024.
The court was told that on August 1, 2022, Justice Adade ordered a Bolt ride and found his personal information being used to identify the driver.
When the ride arrived, it was driven by his employee, Peter Walker, who confessed to stealing Justice Adade’s identity and registering himself as a driver on the Bolt app.
It said Justice Adade’s attempts to seek compensation from Bolt Holdings OU were unsuccessful, prompting the lawsuit.
The court found Bolt Holdings OU being the data processor for Bolt Operations OU, (the Data Controller) liable for failing to verify the identity of Mr Walker [identity thief], thereby allowing the unauthorised use of Justice Adade’s personal data.
The court ruled that Bolt Holdings OU’s negligence violated several provisions of the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843).
“Section 43 (1) of Act 843 entitles the Plaintiff to compensation for D2’s non-compliance with Sections 20, 21, 28 and 30 of Act 843. D2, having been found to have been negligent in its omission of a liveliness identity verification check in its digital identification process for prospective driver Applicants on the Bolt App, is mandated under Section 43(1) of Act 843 to compensate the Plaintiff, and in tort to pay damages to the Plaintiff for its negligence. This Court, in the circumstances, deems it fit, fair and just to award Compensatory Damages.
“The Court accordingly orders Bolt Holdings OU (D2), being the data processor for Bolt Operations OU, owners of the Bolt platform, to pay Compensatory Damages of 1.9 million Ghana Cedis to the Plaintiff (GHC1.9m),” the court said.
In addition to the GH₵1.9 million in damages, the court ordered Bolt Holding OU to pay GH₵20,000 in costs. However, Bolt Ghana Limited was cleared of any liability.
The court noted that all organisations who have the privilege of processing the personal data of people must live up to a high standard to prevent unscrupulous people from using their platforms and systems to place ordinary citizens at risk of their identities being used for purposes they never consented to or had any prior knowledge of.
The court ordered the Data Protection Commission to ensure that a forensic audit of Defendants systems and database is undertaken, with Bolt Holdings OU conducting a liveliness identity verification check for all its drivers registered on the Bolt App or platform up until March 2024 registrations.
It added that the Data Protection Commission should ensure that all other ride-hailing platforms in Ghana undergo this exercise as well for the period they have not undertaken such verification processes for the drivers who use their platforms.