Nigerians may lose access to WhatsApp after FCCPC’s $220 Million fine

WhatsApp, the instant messaging app owned by Meta, has threatened to leave Nigeria one week after Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) fined the platform $220 million for “a data privacy violation.”

FCCPC, in the 116-page document it released about the operations of the Meta-owned messaging platform, said it found that the social media platform violated the FCCPC Act 2018, Nigeria Data Protection Regulation 2019 (NDPR), and other relevant laws.

Accusing WhatsApp of collecting excessive data from Nigerians compared to other messaging platforms like Telegram, FCCPC is also demanding that the messaging platform stop sharing user data with other Facebook companies and third parties without explicit consent.

According to TechCabal, Meta said that the order placed on the Meta-owned messaging platform by the Nigerian government may prevent it from providing its services in Nigeria.

“We want to be really clear that technically, based on the order, it would be impossible to provide WhatsApp in Nigeria or globally,” a spokesperson said

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“This order contains multiple inaccuracies and misrepresents how WhatsApp works. We rely 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,” the statement added.

WhatsApp, used by more than 90 million Nigerians, approximately 45 per cent of the population, is the go-to social media app for many citizens who rely on it for communication as well as business.