Uber Amends Customer Terms in Kenya After Watchdog Finds Clauses Misleading and Unfair to Users
What began as routine terms of service turned into a cross-border consumer rights standoff that forced Uber to make real changes.
For years, if a rider in Nairobi took issue with an Uber trip—whether it was a billing dispute or something more serious—the fine print directed them to a courtroom over 6,000 kilometers away. Dutch law, not Kenyan, applied. And the Netherlands, not Nairobi, was the arena for complaints.
That clause, and several others, are now gone.
Uber has amended its customer terms in Kenya after a regional watchdog raised concerns over fairness and legality. The Competition Commission of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) launched a probe into the ride-hailing platform’s service agreement and found parts of it to be “misleading” and “unconscionable.”
At issue were four key areas. The most jarring? A policy that let Uber change prices mid-trip without alerting the passenger. The app might show one fare at the start and charge a different one by the end. Riders had no formal protection—and no way to challenge it without wading through foreign legal systems.
The regulator also took aim at Uber’s blanket disclaimer of liability. In effect, if something went wrong during a ride—accident, misconduct, poor service—Uber claimed it wasn’t responsible. The driver, after all, was technically a third party.
But from a consumer’s standpoint, it’s Uber they deal with. Uber they pay. Uber whose brand promise they rely on.
The updated Uber customer terms in Kenya now reflect that reality. Disputes will be handled under Kenyan law. Price changes must be communicated. And while Uber still includes legal exclusions, it no longer fully washes its hands of liability.
The changes weren’t made voluntarily. Uber only shifted after Comesa completed its investigation and opened dialogue with the company. In its 2024 annual report, the commission noted that Uber eventually cooperated and implemented the recommended revisions across three countries: Kenya, Uganda, and Egypt.
This case is one of several consumer protection actions taken by the regional body this year, reflecting a growing effort to hold tech platforms accountable to the markets they serve—not just the jurisdictions where they’re incorporated.
In many ways, it’s a signal moment. For once, the fine print couldn’t hide behind borders.
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