Nigeria’s competition watchdog fined Meta Platforms $220 million on Friday after findings that data-sharing on social media platforms breached regional consumer, privacy, and data protection rules.
According to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) of Nigeria, Meta exploited its market dominance by forcing users to agree to exploitative privacy policies, appropriated the data of Nigerian users on its platforms without their consent, and treated Nigerians differently and discriminatorily than people in other jurisdictions with comparable laws.
While the FCCPC claimed in a statement that the firm had supplied certain papers and had retained lawyers who had met and communicated with the agency, Meta did not immediately respond to the statement.
According to FCCPC head Adamu Abdullahi, the inquiries took place in tandem with the Nigerian Data Protection Commission and lasted for more than 38 months.
According to Abdullahi, the investigations revealed that users are not given the choice or chance to self-determine or to refuse to give consent for the collection, use, and sharing of personal data under Meta policies.
The entirety of the investigation has determined that Meta has engaged in behavior over an extended period of time that constitutes multiple, repeated, and ongoing infringements, especially, but not limited to, abusive and invasive practices against Nigerian data subjects, Abdullahi stated.
