Nigeria fines Meta $220m for 'violations'
Africa
By
AFP
| Jul 20, 2024
Nigeria has issued a $220 million fine against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp, for "multiple and repeated" violations.
On Friday, the country's Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) accused Meta of violating the country's data protection and consumer rights laws on Facebook and WhatsApp.
The FCCPC's chief executive officer Adamu Abdullahi said the investigations the commission carried out in conjunction with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission between May 2021 and December 2023 showed that it engaged in "invasive practices against data subjects/consumers in Nigeria".
Abdullahi accused Meta of discriminatory practices, abuse of market dominance, sharing Nigerians' data without authorisation, and denying Nigerians the right to determine how their data are used.
READ MORE
Treasury goes for UAE loan as IMF cautions of debt situation
Traders claim closure of liquor stores, bars near schools punitive
Adani fallout is a lesson on accountability and transparency fight
Sustainable finance in focus for Kenyan banks as Co-op Bank feted
Inside battle for control of Bamburi Cement
What forcing Google to sell Chrome could mean
How talent development is shaping Kenya's tech future
Street-style snappers reclaim the heart of Nairobi
Huawei, charity partners to empower women with digital skills in Kenya
African ministers champion ICT adoption for sustainable growth
Apart from the hefty fine, the FCCPC boss insisted that Meta must "comply with prevailing law and cease the exploitation of Nigerian consumers and their market abuse".
It ordered the company to "desist from future similar or other conduct/practices that do not meet nationally applicable standards."
Meta did not immediately respond to a request to respond to the fine. But the FCCPC said the company was aware of its 38-month investigation.
About three quarters of the 200 million people in Africa's most populous country are younger than 24 -- a generation that is also hyper-connected to social media.
The country had some 164.3 million internet subscriptions as of March, according to the figures published by the National Communication Commission (NCC) on its website.
Meta's platforms — WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram — are among the most popular social media in the country.
The minister for communication and the digital economy, Bosun Tijani, said in December that there were "over 51 million WhatsApp users in Nigeria".
The European Union (EU) accused Meta at the beginning of July of breaching the bloc's digital rules, paving the way for potential fines worth billions of euros.
The EU said Meta's new ad-free subscription model for Facebook and Instagram "forced millions of users" in the bloc to pay to avoid data collection or agree to share their data with Facebook and Instagram to keep using the platforms for free.