More measures to ensure privacy have been put in place to ensure that digital lenders, otherwise known as loan apps, do not have access to customers’ contact information and photos.
This measure will take effect on May 31, 2023, and all the loan apps found on the Apple and Google Play Stores will lose their ability to access their users’ contacts or photos.
Before now, there were several reports of loan apps invading customers’ privacy by sending sometimes derogatory messages to their contacts with debtors’ photos attached.
However, the Nigerian government through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission decided to enforce Google’s policy, claiming that the action was consistent with the move to limit loan app firms’ invasion of customers’ privacy.
Google stated in its April 2023 policy updates that the new policy update would provide relief to loan app users in Nigeria and other countries who had grown accustomed to the crude loan retrieval methods used by the majority of loan apps.
Google said, “Policy preview (effective May 31, 2023): This article previews changes included in our April 2023 policy updates.
“We are updating our personal loans policy to state that apps aiming to provide or facilitate personal loans may not access user contacts or photos.
“We are introducing additional requirements for personal loan apps targeting users in Pakistan. Personal loan apps in Pakistan must submit country-specific licensing documentation to prove their ability to provide or facilitate personal loans.”
The Commission’s “Limited Interim Regulatory/Registration Framework and Guidelines for Digital Lending 2022” tries to regulate the digital lending space by requiring registration and approval for companies that want to operate in it.
Despite the fact that Google’s policy states that it does not “allow apps that promote personal loans that require repayment in full in 60 days or less from the date the loan is issued,” many loan apps in the country do not follow it, exposing many Nigerians to confidential data leaks.
According to the FCCPC, it has recently approved 173 digital lending applications to operate in the country. 119 of these received full approvals, while 54 received conditional approvals. This action became necessary after loan apps began harassing Nigerians by sending defamatory messages to their contacts, among other things.
