Norwegian telco Telenor faces a class action lawsuit amid claims that the carrier shared customers' data in Myanmar with the country's military junta following a 2021 coup.

The lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Myanmar customers whose data was shared with the military, according to a statement by Swedish non-profit Justice and Accountability Initiative (JAI), which filed the lawsuit this week via Norwegian law firm Simonsen Vogt Wiig.

It's been supported by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), plus the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI).

Telenor operated in Myanmar between 2014 and 2022. However, the telco exited the market after the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, which brought a brutal military junta into power. Telenor sold its Myanmar unit to Lebanese holding company M1 Group for $105 million.

It was reported at the time that the junta had informed telcos to "implement intercept technology they had previously been asked to install to let authorities spy on calls, messages, and web traffic and to track users by themselves."

JAI noted that its lawsuit is seeking €9,000 ($10,500) in damages per customer whose data was shared.

It argues that Telenor "either did not prevent disclosure or knowingly and unlawfully authorized the disclosure of their customer data by its subsidiary Telenor Myanmar Ltd. without taking sufficient measures to prevent its misuse."

JAI said it doesn't know the exact number of customers' data that was shared with the junta, but claims the plaintiffs are aware of at least 1,253 phone numbers belonging to users whose data was shared.

“For us as civil society representatives, we want to hold Telenor accountable on behalf of other users of Telenor, not only for specific people but also for the wider community that was harmed. This is why we are bringing the case,” said Ko Ye, chairperson of Justice and Accountability Initiative.

Two individuals represented in the case are also claiming damages for financial losses. Zeya Thaw and Aung Thu experienced severe human rights violations after their data was handed over to the military, notes the filing.

After the data was handed over by Telenor, Thaw was arrested and sentenced to death, while Thu was released last year. The filing claims that he was likely sentenced after the military relied on the shared phone data to convict him in the second proceedings.

Telenor said it was forced to comply

The filing adds that Telenor's HQ in Norway was privy to the military’s requests and the inherent risks.

In a statement to Reuters, Telenor said it was made aware of the planned lawsuit back in October, during which time the telco had been "legally required to provide traffic data to the authorities."

Telenor said that if it rejected the military's requests, it could have led to "imprisonment, torture or the death penalty" for local ​employees.

"Telenor Myanmar had no real options. We could not play Russian roulette with the lives of our employees," said Telenor to Reuters. "It is terrible if data from ​Telenor has been misused by the authorities."

Telenor previously said at the time of its sale in Myanmar that it had to leave "to be able to adhere to our own values on human rights and responsible business."