YouTuber Josh Cahill reviews flights and according to his website, holds “airlines responsible for the promises they make to us customers.”
In September of 2023, Cahill flew from Bali to East Timor on the national carrier, Aero Dili. He posted a negative review of his trip and claimed he got food poisoning while on board.
In response, Acacia Mota, Aero Dili’s country manager, posted on Facebook and accused Cahill of trying to extort them. He then posted a photo of his passport.
Then, on February 19, 2024, the airline posted this on Facebook:
“Aero Dili, the first Timor-Leste aviation service provider, is actively investigating the serious allegations made by Mr. Cahill, a YouTuber. Mr. Cahill has alleged that an Aero Dili ground staff posted his passport on social media without prior authorization and further claimed that an Aero Dili pilot also threatened to make his passport public.
The Aero Dili management recognizes the gravity of the allegations and commits to uncovering the facts surrounding the claims with a thorough examination of the circumstances.
If the investigation reveals any substantiated evidence of wrongdoing, Aero Dili pledges to take decisive actions against those responsible.”
Cahill has asked his followers on YouTube to ask Singapore to boycott the airline:
“We must take action and protect other passengers from having their personal data leaked, putting their safety at risk. Please forward this video to Singapore’s Minister of Transport Chee Hong Tat – chee_hong_tat@mot.gov.sg to prevent Aero Dili from starting flights to Singapore in order to protect their citizens.”
DATA PROTECTION
East Timor has no data protection laws – “no national general law on the protection of privacy and data, cybercrime, cybersecurity, and other privacy-adjacent legislation.”[1] However, the Constitution does provide that “[e]very individual has the right to honour, good name and reputation, protection of his or her public image and privacy of his or her personal and family life.”[2]
Several other sources noted that East Timor has proposed data protection laws (including a Criminal Defamation Law, a Cybercrime Law, Data Privacy and Protection Law), those have not been enacted.
CONSEQUENCES
For the airline, there have been obvious PR repercussions. However, even for a company in a country with no data protection laws, there can be data protection problems.
East Timor is pursuing membership in ASEAN. Even if a country does not have a strong data protection legal regime, relationships with other countries that do may force companies to adopt those data protections as a de facto standard. Thus, if my planes fly to countries with stronger data protection laws, I may have to adopt their standards as a condition of continuing to do business with those countries.
Even if my company decides not to adopt those standards, my planes, gate staff, and other assets will be present in those countries. The law of data situs, or where data is located, is far from settled, but we could see lawsuits in foreign jurisdictions with strong data protections that result in seizure of assets (including aircraft) belonging to a company whose home country does not have strong protections.
As for Cahill, aside from being banned from an airline, are there other consequences a YouTuber (or other social media content creator) might want to consider?
Yes.
In some countries, criticisms of the government or its agencies and companies[3] can result in civil or criminal prosecution. Calling for or participating in the boycott by one country of another’s airline could have antiboycott repercussions. Because operating a successful social media business means you are engaged in international business, watching your p’s and q’s is important … for all the parties in this story.
Try not to start an international incident today!
Hat tip:
[1] https://www.dataguidance.com/notes/timor-leste-data-protection-overview
[2] http://timor-leste.gov.tl/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Constitution_RDTL_ENG.pdf, Section 36.
[3] Aero Dili advertises themselves as “Timor Leste’s national airline company.” Whether that is a slogan or a statement of fact may not matter.
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