The Nigerian government has fined Meta (formerly the Facebook company) the sum of $220 million (equivalent to €202 million and over N35billion) for violation of consumer and data laws.
It was learnt that the government investigation showed data-sharing on its 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 said Meta appropriated the data of Nigerian users on its platforms without their consent, abused its market dominance, and meted out discriminatory and disparate treatment on Nigerians, compared with other jurisdictions with similar regulations.
No official comment has been made by Meta on the issue.
The European Union privacy regulator in January also fined Meta more than $400 million for illegally forcing its users to agree to receive personalised ads based on their online activity.
The EU agency stated this in its ruling on Wednesday, fining Meta 210 million euros for violation of the European Union’s strict data privacy rules involving Facebook and an additional 180 million euros for breaches involving Instagram, Forbes reports.
It is the commission’s latest punishment for Meta’s data privacy violations, following four other fines totalling more than 900 million euros since 2021.
The decision is the result of complaints filed in May 2018, when the privacy rules of the EU’s 27 member states, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, went into effect.
In the past, Meta relied on users’ informed consent to process their personal data in order to show them behavioural or personalised ads.
By including a clause in the terms of service for advertisements, the company changed the legal basis on which it processes user data when GDPR went into effect, effectively requiring users to consent to the use of their data. That goes against EU privacy laws.
