It appears Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has caught a cold, and Nigeria is being asked to bring a handkerchief.
Development Diaries reports that after the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) had the audacity to slap a $220 million fine on its platforms for data privacy violations, the tech company is now reportedly considering storming out of the room altogether.
Apparently, the fine imposed after a tribunal found them guilty of transferring and sharing Nigerian user data without authorisation, and generally behaving like digital landlords in a land they barely pay rent for, has not sat well with them.
But let’s be honest. For a country where WhatsApp group chats are greatly used, and Facebook is often the first source of ‘breaking news’ (real or imagined), Meta’s exit would sting, at least at first.
However, this development should be the wake-up call Nigeria needed.
The real issue is not Meta’s threat to leave; it is how we ended up building our digital economy on platforms that can pack up and leave whenever they feel ‘disrespected’.
It is like renting a house, furnishing it yourself, inviting the landlord over for jollof rice, only for him to tell you he is selling the property, and taking your jollof with him.
Why do Nigerian users get the short end of the privacy stick, with terms and conditions stricter than the passport renewal process?
Now, several Nigerians have called for homegrown social media platforms. It is not a bad idea. After all, China gave us WeChat and Weibo. Russia has VKontakte. These platforms have created jobs, strengthened national data laws, and given their governments (for better or worse) more control over digital narratives.
In Nigeria, such platforms could promote indigenous innovation, strengthen digital sovereignty, and ensure that data generated in Zaria or Owerri is not being analysed in Silicon Valley for targeted ads about hair growth cream.
However, the call for indigenous platforms must not become an excuse for digital censorship, propaganda, or state control of free speech.
We therefore call on the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Wale Edun, and his counterpart in the ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, to support Nigerian tech developers through grants, tax reliefs, and infrastructure to build scalable, secure, and user-friendly platforms.
Also, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) must continue to enforce the Nigeria Data Protection Act of 2023 without fear or favour.
Additionally, we call on Meta to respect Nigerian law, just as they comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe.
