Nigeria, through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, (FCCPC), has slammed a $220 million fine on Meta, parent company of WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, for alleged data privacy breach.
The Commission, in a statement issued yesterday, disclosed that it found Meta culpable of denying Nigerian data subjects the right to self-determine, unauthorised transfer and sharing of Nigerian data, including cross-border storage in violation; discrimination and disparate treatment, abuse of dominance, and tying and bundling.
Acting FCCPC Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Adamu Abdullahi, who stated this yesterday, said Meta appropriated the data of Nigerian users on its platforms without their consent, abused its market dominance, and meted out discriminatory and disparate treatment on Nigerians, compared with other jurisdictions with similar regulations.
Meta did not immediately comment, but the FCCPC said in a statement that the company had provided some documents and have retained counsels who have met and engaged with the agency.
FCCPC chief, Abdullahi said the investigations were jointly held with Nigeria’s Data Protection Commission, and spanned over 38 months.
He further said, the investigations found Meta policies don’t allow users the option or opportunity to self-determine or withhold consent to the gathering, use, and sharing of personal data.
The final order mandates steps and actions Meta must take to comply with local laws, Abdullahi said.
Recall that in May, Turkey’s competition board fined Meta 1.2 billion lira following investigations on data-sharing on its Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp platforms.
Meta has faced pushback in Europe and other jurisdictions over alleged breaches of data protection laws. Meta’s plan to use personal data to train its artificial intelligence models without seeking consent has come under fire in Europe.
