Mobile money platform surveillance

Abstract

Drawing on evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa, this paper explores the various forms of surveillance present on mobile money platforms. At the most basic level, mobile money is the provision of financial services through a mobile device. Over the past decade, these platforms have witnessed astonishing rates of adoption in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, and elsewhere. While some authors have praised the transformative potential of mobile money, particularly in parts of the world in which large numbers of people remain “unbanked,” more critical voices have expressed concerns about the economic risks and regulatory challenges associated with mobile money. This article focuses on an underexplored but nevertheless significant feature of mobile money platforms: The ways in which they facilitate surveillance by service providers and government authorities. Relatively established forms of surveillance include mandates for identifying customers prior to service provision. I also discuss the monitoring of mobile money agents, who receive a commission for turning cash into electronic value (and vice versa). Well-established mobile money providers are said to operate in-house “bank-grade” monitoring systems to identify suspicious transactions and comply with antimoney laundering regulations. Government agencies are also implementing bespoke monitoring solutions in countries where authorities, distrustful of mobile money providers’ self-reported data, seek to more stringently enforce regulatory compliance while also maximizing tax revenues from mobile money transactions. An analysis of these different forms of surveillance reveals their multipurpose and multi-scalar nature. I argue that the impacts of mobile money platform surveillance need to be better understood, particularly from a financial inclusion perspective.