The Federal government has fined Meta (formerly Facebook) $220 million (equivalent to €202 million and over N35 billion) for violating consumer and data protection laws.
A government investigation revealed that data-sharing on Meta’s Facebook and WhatsApp platforms violated local consumer, data protection, and privacy laws, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) said on Friday.
FCCPC Chairman Adama Abdullahi stated that Meta appropriated the data of Nigerian users on its platforms without their consent, abused its market dominance, and subjected Nigerians to discriminatory and disparate treatment compared to other jurisdictions with similar regulations.
It was also reported that Meta was fined $400 million in January for illegally forcing its users to agree to receive personalized ads.
An EU agency, in its ruling on Wednesday, fined Meta €210 million for violating the European Union’s strict data privacy rules involving Facebook and an additional €180 million for breaches involving Instagram, Forbes reports.
Kano Times gathered that Meta’s data privacy violations have resulted in fines exceeding €900 million since 2021, following complaints filed in May 2018 when the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect.
Meta has not made any official comment on the issue.
Previously, Meta relied on users’ informed consent to process their personal data for displaying behavioral or personalized ads. When the GDPR went into effect, Meta faced legal challenges over the basis on which it processed user data, effectively requiring users to consent to data usage in ways that contravened EU privacy laws.