Nigeria has issued a $220 million (€202 million) fine against US tech giant Meta for violations of antitrust, data protection and consumer rights laws.
Meta is the parent company of the social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, as well as of the WhatsApp instant messaging service.
Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) on Friday accused Meta of discriminatory practices, abuse of market dominance, sharing Nigerians’ personal data without authorization and denying Nigerians the right to determine how their data is used.
It said it had “significant evidence on the record” after launching a 38-month investigation in May 2021 and ordered the firm to “desist from future similar or other conduct/practices that do not meet nationally applicable standards.”
The FCCPC said that Meta had proposed a “remedy package” that failed to address initial concerns. Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment from news agencies.
Nigeria, which is Africa’s most populous country, has around 164 million internet subscriptions out of a total population of 200 million. WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram are among the most popular social media platforms among Nigerians, around three-quarters of whom are under the age of 24.
Nigeria’s government is not the first to take Meta to task for antitrust and data collection breaches. Earlier this month, the European Union accused Meta of breaching the bloc’s tech regulations.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com/DW News
