Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram has threatened to cut off Nigeria from its operations following several fines imposed on it by three Nigerian oversight agencies, last year – totaling $290m(£218m)
The US-based social media giant if facing these charges over claims of violating various laws and regulations.
The chief executive officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Adamu Abdullahi —had said investigations were carried out in conjunction with the data commission between May 2021 and December 2023 which revealed that the company engaged in “invasive practices against data subjects/consumers in Nigeria”.
The executive officer also accused Meta of engaging in discriminatory practices, abusing market dominance, sharing Nigerians’ data without authorisation, and denying Nigerians the right to determine how their data are used.
Based on that claim, FCCPC charged Meta an additional $35,000 as investigation charges after an initial $220m fine for alleged anti-competitive practices.
The advertising regulator Council of Nigeria (ARCON) fined the company had also fined the number one company —$37.5m(N60bn) over claims of unapproved advertising.
Then, the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) fined it’s $32.8m alleging violation of data privacy laws.
The commission simply demanding for the company to seek approval before it transfers personal data out of Nigeria —haa asked it to provide an icon with linkage to educational videos about data privacy risks.
It specifically demanded that it must be content created in collaboration with government-approved educational institutions and non-profit organisations.
However, Meta has called these demands “feasible” and “unrealistic” threatening that it might be forced to halt operation in Nigeria across it’s platforms — Facebook especially.
“The applicant may be forced to effectively shut down the Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria in order to mitigate the risk of enforcement measures,” the company said in the court paper.
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