Myanmar customers sue Telenor for sharing private data with military

On behalf of Myanmar customers, a Swedish non-profit association today filed a class action lawsuit against the Norwegian telecoms giant Telenor over its role in serious human rights violations in Myanmar. The lawsuit seeks damages for the sharing of data with military authorities of customers who were suspected of opposing the 2021 coup. According to the claimants, the release of sensitive information was followed by the execution of one prominent government opponent and the political prosecution and jailing of another...

The lawsuit argues that Telenor ASA, at its headquarters in Norway, was privy to the military’s requests and the inherent risks. A Telenor ASA document contained a standardised procedure for handling requests from authorities by its subsidiaries. In accordance with this protocol, an internal written assessment was prepared by the risk assessment team in Myanmar. Where the requests infringed on human rights or lacked a legal basis, they had to be escalated to Telenor ASA in Norway. At the parent company, the requests were then reviewed by the HQ risk assessment team...

Following the filing of the case, Telenor ASA will have the opportunity to formally respond to the claims. Whilst Telenor’s formal response to the claim will be awaited, Telenor’s response to the pre-action notice letter on 20 October 2025 was to deny responsibility. In their response, they stated that they were legally required to comply with the requests from the military and had no choice but to comply in order to protect their employees.