By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The parent company of popular social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, Meta Incorporated, has been fined $200 million by the Nigerian government.
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, in a statement on its X (formerly Twitter) handle on Friday, accused the social media giant of a breach in data privacy.
It disclosed it jointly investigated the matter between May 2021 and December 2023, and over this period of 38 months along with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC).
In the end, it was discovered that Meta denied Nigerian data subjects the right to self-determine, it did not get authorisation to transfer and share Nigerian data-subjects personal data, including cross-border storage in violation of then, and now prevailing law.
In addition, it found the platform guilty of “discrimination and disparate treatment, abuse of dominance; and tying and bundling.”
The agency, therefore, imposed a fine of $220 million (at the prevailing exchange rate where applicable) on Meta in accordance with the FCCPA 2018, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection (Administrative Penalties) Regulations 2020 (APR).
The commission, which said it remains committed to its respective mandates to protect the privacy of Nigerians under the Constitution and all data protection, mandated the company to comply with prevailing law and cease the exploitation of Nigerian consumers and their market abuse.
It further directed the organisation to desist from future similar or other conduct/practices that do not meet nationally applicable standards and undermine the rights of consumers.