ABUJA: 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 counsel who have met and engaged with the agency.

Adamu Abdullahi, the commission’s chief, said the investigations were jointly held with Nigeria’s Data Protection Commission and spanned over 38 months.

The investigations found Meta policies don’t allow users the option or opportunity to self-determine or withhold consent to the gathering, use, and sharing of personal data, Abdullahi said.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2024