Nigeria fined Meta Platforms $220 million, as announced by its competition watchdog on Friday, after investigations revealed that data-sharing on social platforms violated local consumer, data protection, and privacy laws.
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) of Nigeria stated that Meta used Nigerian users’ data on its platforms without their consent, abused its market dominance by enforcing exploitative privacy policies, and subjected Nigerians to discriminatory treatment compared to other regions with similar regulations.
While Meta has not yet commented, the FCCPC mentioned in a statement that the company had submitted some documents and retained legal counsel, who have met and engaged with the agency.
FCCPC Chief Adamu Abdullahi explained that the investigations, conducted jointly with Nigeria’s Data Protection Commission, spanned over 38 months.
The findings indicated that Meta’s policies do not allow users the option or opportunity to self-determine or withhold consent for the collection, use, and sharing of personal data, according to Abdullahi.
Continuing infringements
“The totality of the investigation has concluded that Meta over the protracted period of time has engaged in conduct that constituted multiple and repeated, as well as continuing infringements… particularly, but not limited to abusive, and invasive practices against data subjects in Nigeria,” Abdullahi said.
“Being satisfied with the significant evidence on the record, and that Meta has been provided every opportunity to articulate any position, representations, refutations, explanations or defenses of their conduct, the Commission has now entered a final order and issued a penalty against Meta,” Abdullahi said.
The final order outlines the steps and actions Meta must take to comply with local laws, according to Abdullahi.
In May, Turkey’s competition board fined Meta 1.2 billion lira following investigations into data-sharing practices on its Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and WhatsApp platforms.
Meta has faced opposition in Europe and other regions due to alleged breaches of data protection laws.
In Europe, Meta’s plan to use personal data to train its artificial intelligence models without obtaining consent has been heavily criticized.
Additionally, South Africa’s competition watchdog has announced plans to investigate whether digital platforms, including Meta, are unfairly competing with news publishers by using their content to generate ad revenue.