One week after Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) levied a $220 million fine on WhatsApp for a data privacy violation, the messaging giant may suspend its operations in the country due to additional regulatory demands.
Sources close to the situation indicate that Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, is contemplating the withdrawal of certain services from Nigeria in response to these developments.
In addition to the hefty fine, the FCCPC has mandated that WhatsApp must cease sharing user data with other Facebook companies and third parties without explicit user consent.
The commission has also required WhatsApp to provide detailed disclosures about its data collection practices and to improve user control over their data usage.
A WhatsApp spokesperson, in an email to TechCabal, expressed serious concerns about the feasibility of complying with the FCCPC’s order, stating, “We want to be clear that, technically, based on the order, it would be impossible to provide WhatsApp in Nigeria or globally.”
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The spokesperson criticized the FCCPC’s order as fundamentally flawed, arguing that it misrepresents WhatsApp’s data handling practices and would necessitate substantial changes to the platform’s infrastructure.
Meta has yet to address the FCCPC’s allegations concerning user opt-out options from the 2021 privacy policy update. The company maintains that the update does not involve sharing user data, as stated in its privacy policy:
“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.”
The potential suspension of WhatsApp services could have far-reaching consequences for individuals and small businesses in Nigeria, many of whom rely on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook for customer engagement and business operations.
Some privacy lawyers have raised questions about the FCCPC’s reliance on the National Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) as the basis for the fine. Enacted in 2019 by the National Information Technology Development Agency, the NDPR is Nigeria’s principal data protection framework.
Two unnamed lawyers have expressed doubts about the NDPR’s authority in such a significant matter and questioned whether a government regulation can be deemed definitive in privacy issues.
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Additionally, two unnamed government officials have voiced concerns about the appropriateness of the $220 million fine. “We are too revenue-focused. What is the opportunity cost of $220 million in government coffers?” questioned an industry expert.
If WhatsApp decides to halt its operations in Nigeria due to these regulatory demands, the FCCPC and the Nigerian government will likely face significant scrutiny and potential backlash for the economic and social impacts of such a decision.