Nigeria fines Meta $220 million for violating consumer, data laws

FILE PHOTO: Headquarters of Facebook parent
company Meta Platforms Inc in Mountain
View·Reuters

ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria fined Meta Platforms $220 million, its competition watchdog said on Friday, after investigations showed data-sharing on social platforms violated local consumer, data protection and privacy laws.

Nigeria's Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) said Meta appropriated the data of Nigerian users on its platforms without their consent, abused its market dominance by forcing exploitative privacy policies on users, and meted out discriminatory and disparate treatment on Nigerians, compared with other jurisdictions with similar regulations.

Meta did not immediately comment, but the FCCPC said in a statement that the company had provided some documents and have retained counsels who have met and engaged with the agency.

Full story at Yahoo News.

By Elisha Bala-Gbogbo and and MacDonald Dzirutwe