WhatsApp appeals $200m fine as Irukera slams plan to exit Nigeria

The former chief executive officer of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Babatunde Irukera, has described statements attributed to WhatsApp over its threat to exit Nigeria as pure rhetoric.

According to him, the company has appealed and should be more circumspect and spend its money and resources on mounting that appeal instead of propagandist fear-mongering.

The FCCPC had fortnight ago, slammed a $220 million fine on Meta for a data privacy violation, among other allegations. The Commission equally asked WhatsApp to stop sharing user data with other Facebook companies and third parties without explicit consent. The social media platform must also provide information about data collection and restore user control over data usage.

TechCabal, while citing at least four people familiar with the development, said Meta was considering “withdrawing certain services” from 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.

The platform quoted Meta as saying that the 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,” the statement added.

In his reaction, Irukera said: “That a company disregards the nation enough to threaten departure or be allowed to do its business the way it pleases in violation of law reflects poor governance and compliance culture by the company and its people. That we feed into it as a people is more unfortunate.

“The only people who make this rhetoric newsworthy are us Nigerians who pay any attention. The question is whether they violated the law. If they didn’t, appeal as they have and let the legal process run its course. Empty threats to browbeat a nation are condemnable and reprehensible.

“The same company just settled a Texas case for $1.4b, is currently facing regulatory action in at least a dozen nations, appealing large penalties in several countries. How many has it threatened to exit? Businesses who blackmail to continue impunity exploit, not explore the country.”

WhatsApp pulling out its services from Nigeria could spell doom for the economy, which is currently at its lowest ebb, due to some policy upheavals. The effect could be more damaging to Gen Z demographics, whose lives have been largely centred on social media platforms.

Indeed, about eight months back, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, had on X, said there were over 51 million WhatsApp users in Nigeria.

“Over 51 million WhatsApp users in Nigeria means 1 in 4 active mobile lines are engaging on the platform. I see a huge opportunity for WhatsApp to contribute to economic activities in Nigeria through their payment API,” he stated.

Truly, many individuals, small businesses, and even some mid-range organisations rely on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to reach their target customers. The platforms have also helped Nigeria’s ballooning unemployment market. It has created several jobs, including affiliate marketing, business descriptions, and outsourcing, among others.

Checks showed that WhatsApp and indeed the Internet is a major enabler of the gig economy.

Common gig economy jobs are found in almost every industry, including, but not limited to accounting and finance, construction, education, information technology, freelance writing, software development, and transportation.

Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) showed that as of Q1, there were 164 million Internet users via the narrowband (GSM) while 94 million use the broadband facilities to surf the web.

In 2023, the World Bank said that Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa are the top Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries that accounted for 80.6 per cent of Internet traffic flow to online gig platforms.