The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ruled that collecting and verifying customers’ social media handles as part of their Know-Your-Customer process by banks is not illegal and does not amount to invasion of privacy.
The court, presided over by Justice Nnamdi Dimgba, struck out the suit challenging a section of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Customer Due Diligence Regulations 2023.
The Section in dispute is Section 6(a)(iv) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (Customer Due Diligence) Regulations, 2023, which mandates banks to collect and verify customers’ social media handles as part of their Know-Your-Customer process.
The suit was filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Chris Eke, against the CBN, who sought a declaration that the regulation is unconstitutional and a contravention of Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution which borders on the protection of the privacy of citizens.
But the CBN urged the court to dismiss the application for being incompetent.
In his ruling, Justice Dimgba held that the applicant made ambitious claims when he submitted that the requirements on the CBN Regulations for financial institutions to request and collect the social media handle of its customers as part of KYC infringed on his right to privacy.
Dimgba said the said regulations are directed to and apply to financial institutions and not to private individuals such as the Applicant.
He further stated that the lawyer made no deposition to the effect that any financial institution had begun to implement the said regulation, thereby, creating disruptions and inconvenience against the general population.
“Fourthly, and for all it is worth, I do not see how asking a banking or potential banking customer to provide his social media handle can ever amount to a breach of privacy.
“My view is that the provision of a social media handle is of the same genre as the provision of email address, phone numbers and other means by which a potential customer of a bank can be contacted,” Dimgba added.
The judge struck out the suit while uploading the preliminary objection of the CBN legal team.
