Telecoms operators Safaricom, Telkom Kenya and Airtel have been sued on claims they have failed to make it easier to end auto-renewal subscriptions, exposing consumers to additional charges.
Lobby group Youth Advocacy Africa, together with subscribers John Wangai and Anthony Manyara, seeks an order to force the operators to ease subscription sign-ups and cancellations.
They want the firms to also get consent from customers before renewing subscriptions or converting free trials into paid memberships.
The suit echoes the push by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to adopt a ‘click to cancel’ rule, which requires businesses to get consumers’ consent for subscriptions, auto-renewals and free trials that convert to paid memberships.
The rule, which sought to force companies to make subscription sign-ups and cancellations straightforward, was to take effect on May 14, but enforcement has been delayed.
The Kenya suit, which is nearly based on the ‘click to cancel’ rule, looks set to trigger opposition from telecom operators that have yet to file their response to the case.
The heart of the case is that mobile phone users are incurring expenses from auto subscriptions that are difficult to cancel.
“The petition concerns ongoing, widespread, and unlawful deductions, unauthorised charges and non–non-consensual subscriptions from consumers’ mobile airtime accounts by the three respondents, which continue to occur daily without consent or notification, resulting in economic harm to millions of consumers,” says the petition filed at the High Court Constitutional and Human Rights division.
The petitioners allege that subscribers face non-consensual charges such as SMS alerts and Skiza tunes, deducted from their mobile airtime accounts.
“Affected consumers are often enrolled into subscription-based services, including but not limited to Skiza tunes, religious messages, horoscopes, daily news alerts, betting tips, and other premium SMS services, without their express consent or any clear opt-in process. These subscriptions are often auto-renewed and charged daily, resulting in cumulative financial loss,” says the petition.
The petitioners say the subscription process is covert and lacks any verifiable record of consumer consent, arguing that some consumers become aware of such subscriptions after checking their airtime balances.
There is no simple cancellation mechanism for subscriptions or a process for refund or complaint resolution, says the lawsuit.
The petitioners want the court to issue an order compelling the three telcos to refund consumers who have suffered unauthorised deductions of airtime, charges, or subscriptions in the past three years.
The payouts, they say, should be subject to verification by an independent audit under the watch of the industry regulator, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
They want the court to compel the telcos to establish and publicise clear, accessible, and toll-free opt-in and opt-out mechanisms, and to ensure transparency in all pricing, terms, and conditions for services offered.
In the US, the FTC sought to prohibit requiring consumers who signed up through an app or a website to go through a chatbot or agent to cancel.
For in-person signups, companies must provide means to cancel by phone or online, said the trade commission.
Last year, the FTC took legal action against technology giant Amazon on a related issue.
The lawsuit accused the firm of tricking customers into signing up for Prime subscriptions that renewed automatically and made it difficult for people to cancel.
The agency also said Amazon’s website designs pushed customers into agreeing to enrol in Prime and have the subscription automatically renewed as they were making purchases. The FTC has also taken legal action against software giant Adobe for similar reasons.
It sued the company for allegedly violating consumer protection laws with “hidden” termination fees and a convoluted cancellation process.
The petitioners in the Kenyan case reckon that the suit borrowed from the CA report for the half to December that captured 510 complaints, with more than 11 related to unauthorised charges and subscriptions.
They say the unauthorised deductions of airtime undermine constitutional guarantees on economic security and consumer protection.
"Despite widespread consumer complaints as evidenced in the Communication Authority's consumer complaints reports for Q1 and Q2 of Financial Year 2024/2025, no meaningful redress has been provided," says the petitioners.
"Due to a lack of regulatory intervention, the offending practices are escalating in scale and sophistication, with consumers unable to seek timely redress or refunds due to the lack of effective complaint mechanisms.”
