“Unrealistic Demands”: Meta Threatens to Shut Down Facebook, Instagram in Nigeria Over $290 Million Fines

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has warned it may shut down both platforms in Nigeria following a series of steep fines imposed by local regulatory bodies. The tech giant described the demands as “unrealistic” and said it is considering the suspension of services to avoid further enforcement actions.

Last year, three Nigerian oversight agencies levied more than \$290 million in fines against Meta for alleged violations of competition, advertising, and data protection laws. Meta’s efforts to overturn the sanctions in Nigeria’s Federal High Court were unsuccessful, with the court now giving the company until the end of June to pay up.

According to court documents reviewed by the BBC, Meta is weighing a shutdown of Facebook and Instagram in Nigeria. WhatsApp, another Meta-owned service, was not mentioned in the legal filings.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) imposed a \$220 million fine on Meta for alleged anti-competitive practices. The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria added a \$37.5 million penalty for unauthorized advertisements, while the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) fined the company \$32.8 million for supposed data privacy breaches.

FCCPC chief executive Adamu Abdullahi stated that investigations carried out with the NDPC from May 2021 to December 2023 uncovered “invasive practices against data subjects/consumers in Nigeria,” although details were not disclosed.

Meta’s legal filings highlight its dispute primarily with the NDPC, which it accuses of misinterpreting Nigeria’s data protection laws. Among the commission’s demands is a requirement for Meta to obtain prior approval before transferring personal data out of Nigeria. The NDPC also instructed the company to add a prominent icon linking users to educational materials on data privacy risks, created with approved institutions and NGOs.

Meta argued that these requirements are unworkable and claimed that the NDPC has misapplied the legal framework governing data protection in Nigeria.

Facebook remains Nigeria’s most widely used social media platform, serving millions of users for communication, news, and small-scale business operations.