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The Federal Government of Nigeria has fined Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, $220 million for data privacy violations.
A statement by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), said Meta was fined for an unauthorised appropriation of personal data without user consent, discriminatory practices against Nigerian users and the abuse of Meta’s dominant market position.
According to the statement, between May 2021, and December 2023, a comprehensive investigation into data privacy practices and market behaviour of Meta by the FCCPC and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC), uncovered multiple infringements of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).
In its final order, FCCPC mandated several corrective actions for Meta to comply with Nigerian laws, including ensuring Nigerian users’ right to data self-determination, ceasing unauthorised data transfers and eliminating discriminatory practices.
Consequently, “Being satisfied with the significant evidence on the record, and that Meta Parties have been provided with every opportunity to articulate any position, representations, refutations, explanations or defences of their conduct and practices under law, the Commission has now entered a Final Order and issued a penalty against Meta Parties. The Final Order more elaborately describes the specific conduct or practices of the Meta Parties, the relationship between Meta Parties concerning the infringements, particularly about.
“Denying Nigerian data subjects the right to self-determine; Unauthorised 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; Dominance; Abuse of dominance and Tying and bundling.
“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.
“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).
