WhatsApp may leave Nigeria over $220m fine

Barely a week after being fined $220 million by Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) for a data privacy violation, WhatsApp is considering suspending its operations in the country

The FCCPC has made additional demands, including stopping user data sharing with Facebook companies and third parties without consent, providing information on data collection, and restoring user control over data usage. WhatsApp claims these demands are “impossible” to meet and would impact users globally.

If WhatsApp ceases operations in Nigeria, it would have significant consequences for individuals and small businesses that rely on the platform. Privacy lawyers have questioned the FCCPC’s basis for the fine, and government figures have expressed concerns over the fine’s proportionality. WhatsApp is urgently appealing the order to avoid any impact on users.

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

“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,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told TechCabal via email.

Meta did not comment on the FCCPC’s claim that WhatsApp did not allow users to opt out of the 2021 policy. However, it insisted that its January 2021 Privacy Policy update does not include sharing user data.

“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 privacy document reads.

If WhatsApp ceases operations in Nigeria, it will have enormous consequences for individuals and small business owners. Many SMEs rely on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to reach their target customers.