The government’s decision was backed by Google’s recent announcement where it confirmed it will restrict loan apps registered on its Play Store from accessing sensitive user data such as photos, videos, and contacts.
This move also aims to attend to the growing concerns about predatory lending practices by these loan apps In Africa—especially Nigeria and Kenya as most of the lenders have been found guilty of adopting debt-shaming and unethical practices to force their customers into repayment.
Most loan apps have gone as far as labelling loan defaulters as ritualists and wrongfully announcing their deaths using their photos while others found a way to send very disturbing messages to the debtor’s friends and family after gaining access to the debtor’s phone contacts.
