Meta Platforms Inc., owners of Facebook and Instagram, has warned that it might discontinue the operation of both platforms in Nigeria due to mounting regulatory fines.
The tech giant issued the warning in a court filing obtained by the BBC.
On July 19, 2024, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) slammed a $220 million fine on Meta, which also owns WhatsApp, citing multiple data privacy violations.
The penalty followed a 38-month joint investigation by the FCCPC and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) into the data handling practices of WhatsApp and Meta.
However, Meta said it would appeal the fine.
On April 25, the competition and consumer protection tribunal upheld the $220 million sanction imposed by the FCCPC and gave Meta until the end of June to comply.
According to the BBC’s report on Friday, Meta stated it may have to “effectively shut down the Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria in order to mitigate the risk of enforcement measures.”
Although Meta also owns WhatsApp, the court filing did not mention the messaging platform.
Meta’s main contention appears to be with the NDPC, which the company accused of misinterpreting Nigeria’s data protection laws.
In addition to the FCCPC’s $220 million fine, the NDPC imposed a separate $32.8 million penalty, while the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) fined Meta $37.5 million for alleged unapproved advertising content.
The BBC report noted that the NDPC is insisting that Meta obtain prior approval before transferring Nigerian users’ data abroad — a requirement the company has labeled as “unrealistic.”
The data protection commission also directed Meta to create and promote educational content on data privacy risks, to be accessed through a dedicated icon on its platforms. These videos are to be developed in collaboration with government-approved institutions and NGOs, and should focus on manipulative and unfair data processing practices.
Meta, however, rejected these directives, describing the conditions as “unworkable” and alleging that the agency had misapplied the relevant data laws.
Meanwhile, the FCCPC stated that the fines stemmed from investigations conducted between May 2021 and December 2023, in partnership with the NDPC.
Meta has yet to make a public announcement regarding its next steps.