WhatsApp could leave Nigeria over FCCPC demands, $220m fine

The instant messaging and voice-over-IP service, WhatsApp could leave Nigeria due to the $220 million fine it got from the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

According to reports, apart from the fine, some of the demands of the FCCPC are among the reasons WhatsApp Messenger has decided to exit Nigeria.

The FCCPC just last week slapped a fine of $220m on the social media platform for a data privacy violation while the commission is also making additional demands.

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The FCCPC ordered it to stop sharing user data with other Facebook companies and third parties without explicit consent.

The commission also issued a directive to the social media platform to stop providing information about data collection and restore user control over data usage.

Tech Cabal in a report on Friday said all these could lead to “WhatsApp suspending operations in the country”, adding that no fewer than four people familiar with the conversation said Meta was considering “withdrawing certain 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 for WhatsApp told TechCabal via email.

“This order contains multiple inaccuracies and misrepresents how WhatsApp works. It 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.”

Meta has, however, remained silent on the FCCPC’s claim that WhatsApp did not give users the permission to opt out of the 2021 policy.

The company which owns WhatsApp, however, insisted that the sharing of user data is not part of its January 2021 Privacy Policy update.

“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 read.