Telenor Group argued it was required to hand over user data to Myanmar’s military government prior to selling its operations to a Lebanon-based investment company in 2022, as it faces a lawsuit for violating human rights, Reuters reported.

Norway-headquartered Telenor explained in a statement Telenor Myanmar was legally required to provide traffic data to authorities, adding it had “no good options”, since not following directives from the junta would have “been perceived as terrorism and sabotage”, putting employees in danger, the news agency wrote.

The claimants, which include the Defend Myanmar Democracy and Myanmar Internet Project, sent a pre-action letter to Telenor, the first step in bringing a lawsuit. The group said the sale of Telenor to majority-owner Shwe Byain Phyu effectively granted the military “unfettered access” to customer data, Reuters stated.

In a post on its website, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations, which supports the legal action, noted the claimants intend to prove a “direct causal link” between Telenor’s disclosure of personal data to the junta and the economic losses they incurred.

Telenor, one of the largest foreign investors in Myanmar, started operations in the country in 2014. It sold the unit to M1 Group for $105 million in March 2022 following political instability in early 2021.