The Adentan Circuit Court has ordered Bolt Holdings OU, operators of ride-hailing platform, Bolt to pay GH₵1.9 million as compensatory damages to Justice Noah Adade.

This was after Mr Adade detected that his name and photo had been listed as the driver responding to his ride request on August 1, 2022.

Upon arrival, Bolt’s employee, Peter Walker, confessed to stealing Justice Adade’s identity and registering himself as a driver on the app.

When the case was called before the court presided over by Judge Sedinam Awo Kwadam, on Wednesday, September 18, 2024, it was established that Bolt failed to detect the identity theft and its use by a driver.

The facts presented before the court revealed that Justice Adade’s attempts to seek compensation from Bolt Holdings OU were unsuccessful, prompting the lawsuit.

The court found Bolt Holdings OU being the data processor for Bolt Operations OU, (the Data Controller) liable for failing to verify the identity of Mr Walker [identity thief], thereby allowing the unauthorised use of Justice Adade’s personal data.

The court ruled that Bolt Holdings OU’s negligence violated several provisions of the Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843).

“Section 43 (1) of Act 843 entitles the Plaintiff to compensation for D2’s non-compliance with Sections 20, 21, 28 and 30 of Act 843. D2, having been found to have been negligent in its omission of a liveliness identity verification check in its digital identification process for prospective driver Applicants on the Bolt App, is mandated under Section 43(1) of Act 843 to compensate the Plaintiff, and in tort to pay damages to the Plaintiff for its negligence. This Court, in the circumstances, deems it fit, fair and just to award Compensatory Damages.

“The Court accordingly orders Bolt Holdings OU (D2), being the data processor for Bolt Operations OU, owners of the Bolt platform, to pay Compensatory Damages of 1.9 million Ghana Cedis to the Plaintiff (GHC1.9m),” the court said.

The court noted that all organisations who have the privilege of processing the personal data of people must live up to a high standard to prevent unscrupulous people from using their platforms and systems to place ordinary citizens at risk of their identities being used for purposes they never consented to or had any prior knowledge of.

More so, the Data Protection Commission is to ensure a forensic audit of Bolt’s systems and database to check the accuracy of the identity of all its drivers up until March 2024.

The commission is to also ensure all other ride-hailing platforms in Ghana undergo this exercise.

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