Meta fighting Nigerian fines, warns could shut Facebook, Instagram

Nigeria had some 164.3 million internet subscriptions as of March [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Meta on Saturday vowed to fight Nigerian fines for various consumer data violations as the U.S. tech giant reportedly threatened to cut off Facebook and Instagram in Africa’s most populous country.

The social media juggernaut last week lost its latest legal bid when a Nigerian tribunal rejected its appeal against a $220 million fine imposed by the country’s consumer protection agency, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

In appeals court papers cited by various media, including the BBC and The Africa Report, Meta said it “may be forced to effectively shut down the Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria in order to mitigate the risk of enforcement measures”.

Meta’s social media platforms — WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram — are among the most popular in the country.

Meta has until the end of June to pay the fine, Nigerian media reported.

“We disagree with the NDPC’s (Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) decision, which fails to take into account the wide range of settings and tools that allow everyone using Facebook and Instagram in Nigeria to control how their information is used,” a Meta spokesperson told AFP.

“We’re committed to protecting user privacy and have appealed the decision,” the company spokesperson said in an email response.

Nigeria had accused Meta of violating the country’s data protection and consumer rights laws on Facebook and WhatsApp.

FCCPC chief executive officer Adamu Abdullahi had said investigations carried out in conjunction with the NDPC between May 2021 and December 2023 revealed “invasive practices against data subjects/consumers in Nigeria”.

A WhatsApp spokesperson told AFP on Saturday that: “The FCCPC order contains multiple inaccuracies and misrepresents how WhatsApp works, and we are urgently applying to stay the order and appeal the Tribunal’s decision to avoid any impact to users.”

Nigeria had some 164.3 million internet subscriptions as of March, according to figures published on the National Communication Commission’s website.