Nigeria, through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), has fined Meta, the company behind WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, $220 million for alleged data privacy violations.
The Commission’s Acting Executive Chairman, Adamu Abdullahi, announced on Friday that the Commission found Meta guilty of denying Nigerian data subjects’ right to self-determination, the unauthorized transfer and sharing of data in Nigeria, including cross-border storage, in violation of these regulations. In addition, discrimination and unequal treatment, abuse of dominant market position, and tying and bundling transactions were also committed.
The FCCPC said, “The Final order also imposes a monetary penalty of Two Hundred and Twenty Million U.S. Dollars only ($220,000,000.00) (at prevailing exchange rate where applicable) which penalty is in accordance with the FCCPA 2018, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection (Administrative Penalties) Regulations 2020 (APR).”
A WhatsApp spokesperson said the decision would be appealed. “We disagree with both this decision and the fine and will appeal,” the spokesperson said.
The FCCPC noted that the decision came after a joint investigation by the Commission and the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) that lasted 38 months (May 2021 and December 2023). The investigation looked into Meta’s conduct, privacy policy, business operations, etc.
The FCCPC announced that it had commenced its investigation in May 2021 based on available evidence that Meta, through its platform, violated the provisions of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018 (FCCPA) and the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation, 2019 (NDPR), which came into force before the Nigerian Data Protection Act, 2023 (NDPA) was passed and enacted.
The Competition Commission found that Meta provided some information in response to document requests and subpoenas.
The report stated that “Meta parties by themselves, and retained counsels have also repeatedly engaged with, and met with investigators and analysts from the commission, and the NDPC, including as recently as April 4, 2024.”
The FCCPC stressed that their investigation uncovered the following: Meta was guilty of acts including abusive and invasive conduct towards Nigerian data consumers, such as collection of personal data and information without consent, and discriminatory conduct against Nigerians, to name a few. He noted that Meta was given an opportunity to defend himself during the investigation before the final order was made.
The order specifically mentioned violations relating to:
“Denying Nigerian data subjects the right to self-determine; unauthorized transfer and sharing of Nigerian data-subjects personal data, including cross-border storage in violation of then, and now prevailing law; discrimination and disparate treatment; abuse of Dominance; and tying and bundling.”
The FCCPC further added, “The Final Order of the Commission mandates steps and actions Meta Parties must take to comply with prevailing law and cease the exploitation of Nigerian consumers and their market abuse, as well as desist from future similar or other conduct/practices that do not meet nationally applicable standards and undermine the rights of consumers.”
A former Chairman of the FCCPC, Mr Babatunde Irukera commented on the order against X saying, “In this matter of protecting consumers and fair market regulation, Nigeria didn’t proceed at dawn, but as a testament to Nigerian ingenuity and resilience, we have made such progress ahead of dusk! Leading continental digital markets accountability is reflective of who Nigerians are.”
The announcement of the $220 million fine against Meta coincided with the dismissal of a 30 billion naira lawsuit brought by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria. Meta and its agent, AT3 Resources Limited, were on Friday cleared by a Federal High Court in Abuja for alleged illegal advertising.
In 2023, the European Union fined Meta a record $1.3 billion for a data breach and ordered it to stop transferring users’ personal data in a decades-long process. In 2022, the South African Competition Commission announced plans to impose a record fine for abuse of dominance against Meta for allegedly trying to block online “chatbots” from using WhatsApp to provide health information to citizens on behalf of the government.
