WhatsApp May Suspend Activities in Nigeria Over $220m Fine by FCCPC

Oluwasegun SanusiAugust 1, 20242 Mins read452

As earlier reported, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission levied a fine of $220 million on WhatsApp for alleged violations of consumers’ data privacy; further demands by FCCPC could see WhatsApp suspend activities in Nigeria.

Sources told TechCabal that Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, is considering “the withdrawal of certain services” in the country.

According to the report, FCCPC ordered WhatsApp to refrain from sharing user data with other Facebook companies and third-party entities without explicit consent.

The social media platform is also to provide clarity regarding data collection practices and give users control back regarding the use of their data.

A WhatsApp spokesperson, in an email, stressed the impossibility of complying with the FCCPC’s order:

We want to be really clear that, technically, based on the order, it would be impossible to provide WhatsApp in Nigeria or globally.

According to the spokesperson,

This order contains multiple inaccuracies and misrepresents how WhatsApp works. WhatsApp relies on limited data to run our service and keep users safe, and it would be impossible to provide WhatsApp in Nigeria or globally without Meta’s infrastructure. We are urgently appealing the order to avoid any impact on users.

Meta did not react to FCCPC’s complaint that WhatsApp had not enabled users to opt out of its 2021 policy update, saying it doesn’t share user data due to the January 2021 Privacy Policy update.

The privacy document says: “While traditionally mobile carriers and operators store this information, we believe that keeping these records for two billion users would be both a privacy and security risk, and we don’t do it.”

This suspension of activities of WhatsApp operations in Nigeria would spell doom for individuals and small business owners who rely on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to get through to their target market.

Three privacy lawyers have questioned the FCCPC’s justification, resting entirely on the National Data Protection Regulation for the fine. NDPR, adopted in 2019 by the National Information Technology Development Agency, is the leading framework in Nigeria regarding data protection.

Two of the lawyers, speaking under anonymity, told TechCabal that the NDPR might not pass the scrutiny of a court of law and questioned whether a government regulation could be of such high authority in a matter as critical as privacy.

Though the case of Meta is subject to regulatory oversight, the proportionality of this $220 million fine levied by the FCCPC has been called into question.

Two government figures also told TechCabal they doubted that the fine was justified. “We are too revenue-focused. What is the opportunity cost of $220 million in government coffers?” added an industry expert.

Recall Meta had announced the removal of 63,000 Nigerian Instagram accounts involved in financial sextortion scams in a statement titled “Combating Financial Sextortion Scams from Nigeria.”

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