Bolt Holdings Ou, the data processor for the ride-hailing platform Bolt, has been ordered by the Adentan Circuit Court to pay GHS 1.9 million to Justice Noah Adade, a Lecturer and CEO of a software solutions company.
This ruling came after the court determined that Bolt had failed to detect the theft of Mr. Adade’s identity, which was then used by a driver registered on the platform.
Background
In August 2022, Mr. Adade booked a Bolt ride through his phone and was surprised to see his own photograph and personal details listed as the driver who would pick him up. When the ride arrived, the actual driver was his employee, Peter Walker, who admitted to stealing Mr. Adade’s identity and registering himself as a driver on the Bolt app.
Lawsuit
Mr. Adade took legal action, asserting that Bolt had been negligent by not verifying the driver’s identity, allowing the identity theft to happen.
The court, presided over by Her Honour Sedinam Awo Kwadam, ruled in Mr. Adade’s favor, citing Ghana’s Data Protection Act, which mandates that Bolt must carry out a liveliness identity verification during driver registration. The court found that Bolt’s failure to perform this check was a breach of its duty of care to Mr. Adade.
The court stated that Bolt’s actions violated Section 20 of the Data Protection Act, which prohibits the processing of personal data without the subject’s prior consent, except when necessary for a contract involving the data subject.
The court further stated that Bolt’s failure subjected Mr. Adade to emotional distress and trauma upon seeing himself portrayed as a Bolt driver for an indefinite period.
The court also noted that this damaged his reputation, forcing him to spend resources to seek legal redress. Claims by Bolt that it had exercised due diligence and taken reasonable care were dismissed.
Her Honour Sedinam Awo Kwadam emphasized that there was no evidence to suggest that Mr. Adade had contributed to his identity theft or colluded with the perpetrator to exploit Bolt.
“All organizations, big or small, that have the privilege of processing personal data must uphold the high standard of care expected of them by law and public safety policies to prevent unscrupulous individuals from using their platforms to put ordinary citizens at risk of having their identities misused without their consent,” the Judge stated.
Orders
The court ordered Bolt to pay GHS 1.9 million in compensation, along with an additional GHS 20,000 to cover Mr. Adade’s legal fees.
Additionally, the Data Protection Commission is tasked with conducting a forensic audit of Bolt’s systems and database to verify the identity of all its drivers by March 2024.
The commission is also required to ensure that all other ride-hailing platforms in Ghana undergo the same audit.
