Access to Facebook and Instagram in Nigeria may soon be blocked as the parent company, Meta, considers shutting down both platforms in the country due to mounting fines and stringent regulatory demands imposed by Nigerian authorities.
Meta, the US-based parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is facing over $290 million (₦436billion) in fines from Nigerian regulatory bodies, following accusations of data privacy violations, unapproved advertising, and anti-competitive practices.
Three major Nigerian agencies —the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), and the Nigerian Data Protection Commission (NDPC) —last year jointly imposed penalties on Meta after investigations into the company’s operations in Nigeria from May 2021 to December 2023.
The breakdown of the fines is as follows $220 million by the FCCPC for alleged anti-competitive practices. $37.5 million by ARCON over unapproved and non-compliant advertising content and $32.8 million by NDPC for breaching Nigeria’s data privacy laws.
Meta in a court documement said it “…may be forced to effectively shut down the Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria in order to mitigate the risk of enforcement measures.”
The Federal High Court has recently dismissed Meta’s appeal against the fines giving Meta until the end of June 2025 to comply with payment.
While WhatsApp remains unaffected for now, Meta has expressed concern particularly with the NDPC’s regulatory stance that it (Meta) must obtain prior approval before transferring any Nigerian user data abroad — a condition Meta described as “unrealistic.”
Meta has criticized the commission’s directives as vague and impractical, accusing the NDPC of misinterpreting Nigeria’s data protection laws.