NewStats: 3,262,149 , 8,176,234 topics. Date: Sunday, 01 June 2025 at 12:36 AM a3a5q

People in Nigeria may lose access to Facebook and Instagram after parent company Meta said it faced large fines and "unrealistic" regulatory demands from the Nigerian authorities.

Last year, three Nigerian oversight agencies imposed fines on the US-based social media giant totalling more than $290m (£218m) for violating various laws and regulations.

Meta was unsuccessful in a recent attempt to challenge the decisions in the federal high court in Abuja.

"The applicant may be forced to effectively shut down the Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria in order to mitigate the risk of enforcement measures," the company said in the court papers.

Meta also owns WhatsApp, but it did not mention the messaging service in its statement.

The high court has given the company until the end of June to pay the fines.

The BBC has asked Meta to outline what its next steps will be but has not yet received a response.

Facebook is by far the most popular social media platform in Nigeria and is used by tens of millions in the country for daily communication and sharing news. It is also a vital tool for many of Nigeria's small online businesses.

In July last year, Meta was asked to pay three fines:

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCC) imposed a $220m fine for alleged anti-competitive practices

The advertising regulator fined the company $37.5m over unapproved advertising

And the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) alleged Meta had violated data privacy laws and fined it $32.8m.

FCC chief executive officer Adamu Abdullahi said investigations carried out in conjunction with the data commission between May 2021 and December 2023 revealed "invasive practices against data subjects/consumers in Nigeria" but was not specific about what these were.

In its court submission, Meta said its "primary concern" was with the data commission, which it accused of "misinterpreting" data privacy laws.

Specifically, the commission has demanded that Meta seek prior approval before transferring any personal data out of Nigeria - a condition that Meta called "unrealistic".

The data commission also imposed other demands.

Meta was told it must provide an icon linking to educational videos about data privacy risks. This would be content created in collaboration with government-approved educational institutions and non-profit organisations.

The NDPC insisted that these videos highlight the dangers of "manipulative and unfair data processing" that could expose Nigerian s to health and financial risks.

Meta described the NDPC's demands as unfeasible, saying that the agency has failed to "properly interpret the laws guiding data privacy".

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgrwxp5r15o.amp

About time. Let them go ahead and shut down that ghost town.

Good.

Who that CIA/Mossad data mining site help other than the most narscistic idiots on the planet.

They should cut it and lets rest. Maybe it is MTN our bandits in suits will face.

CodeTemplarr:
They should cut it and lets rest. Maybe it is MTN our bandits in suits will face.

And if they cut it, many of you would still be attacking and criticizing Tinubu, that he cuts you from the rest of the world

Noted.

Make dem carry am go.... nobody send dem for here



Before Facebook there was Nigeria and after Facebook.. Nigeria will always continue

Na content creators go suffer am . At least Nigerians will be saved from rubbish content

Mtcheew

They should go.

What's good in them closing down operations in Nigeria. I want to genuinely learn.
There are lots of online businesses that thrive due to these platforms not to talk of their monetisation scheme.
Do people just talk to be seen as patriotic or there are things I don't understand.

Social media regulation in full swing

This useless and insensitive istration is using all means to generate money for themselves. Crook istration ever.

If they cut it now, how will Bayo Onanuga and Lere Olayinka be ing insulting comments on their principal's perceived political foes?

Na our content creators I da pity more

However, our tax-for-nothing government will not care. They will be happy cos they know it's through social media we explore their ineptitude and bad governance to the world.


They tax everyone, fine the other and bill the rest so they can have much money to allocate to themselves

Lol....who wan beg them before.....we won't even notice it when they've cut off.......

Alhamdulila,that has been our prayers

Why can't they obey Nigerian laws? Even kidnappers now post videos on Facebook. I do report them but nothing happens...

Mark is not aware awon omo lile squad VPN

Imagine what nigeria would have done to kill nairaland of it was this big as facebook. Omo nigeria is a country where illogic is logical.

Pay up

Fiscus105:



And if they cut it, many of you would still be attacking and criticizing Tinubu, that he cut you from rest of the world

Yes na is this not his doing?

If facebook leaves, we will face our books

Abeg o, make dem no shut WhatsApp, that's the App that pays my salary.

It's a very good app that helps in effective marketing of my available properties.

APC wicked fumbling government will love this to happen because they have always been afraid of social media.


One of them even said that social media is a terrorist organization.


🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I won't miss facebook or Instagram - but WhatsApp - that is a tool I use extensively.

Things fall apart in Nigeria, honestly nothing seems to work in this shithole

We’ll still use VPN to access it.

They should do so quickly