The Federal Government, through the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC, says the threat by WhatsApp to exit Nigeria due to the Commission’s recent order will not exonerate the company from the outcome of a judicial process.

In a statement by its Director, Corporate Affairs, Ondaje Ijagwu on Saturday in Abuja, FCCPC said the Meta Parties should take steps to comply with Nigeria’s law.

Ijagwu said the threat was a calculated move aimed at inducing negative public reaction and potentially pressuring the FCCPC to reconsider its decision.

According to him, the recent affirmation of FCCPC’s final order by the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal required Meta Parties to stop exploiting Nigerian consumers, and change their practices to meet Nigerian standards consistent with international best practices.

DAILY POST recalls that Ijagwu said the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal had awarded 220 million dollars against Meta Platforms Incorporated and WhatsApp LLC as an administrative penalty for the violations.

Meta had threatened to shut down its Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria in protest of the large fines imposed by multiple government agencies.

It will also be recalled that the tribunal further awarded 35,000 dollars to the FCCPC as cost of investigation.

”The FCCPC investigated Meta Platforms and WhatsApp (jointly referred to as “Meta Parties”) for allegedly violating the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, FCCPA, and the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation, NDPR.

”The Commission found that Meta Parties engaged in multiple and repeated infringements of the FCCPA (2018) and the NDPR.

”These infringements include denying Nigerians the right to control their personal data, transferring and sharing Nigerian user data without authorisation.

”Others are discriminating against Nigerian users compared to users in other jurisdictions and abusing their dominant market position by forcing unfair privacy policies,” he said.

According to Ijagwu, Meta had been fined for similar breaches in Texas (1.5 billion dollars ) and only recently was asked to pay 1.3 billion dollars for violating European Union, EU, Data Privacy Rules.

He reiterated that Meta had faced penalties in India, South Korea, France and Australia for similar breaches.

The Commission’s director further stated that Meta never resorted to the blackmail of threatening to exit those countries rather, they obeyed.

He expressed the Commission’s commitment in its pursuit of consumer protection and data privacy toward ensuring a fairer digital market in the country.

TikTok said it removed over 2.1 million videos in Nigeria in the second quarter of 2024 for violating its community guidelines.

According to the Community Guidelines Enforcement Report shared on Tuesday, Tiktok said the action is part of the company’s ongoing efforts to enhance content moderation and create a safer platform for users.

“Key findings show that 99.1 per cent of these videos were proactively removed before users reported them, with 90.7 per cent taken down within 24 hours.

“These figures highlight TikTok’s commitment to staying ahead of harmful content, ensuring a safer platform for Nigerian users,” the report noted.

The affected videos represent less than 1 per cent of the total uploads in Nigeria during the reporting period.

Globally, TikTok said it removed over 178 million videos in June 2024, with 144 million of those removals facilitated through automated systems.

“With a proactive detection rate now at 98.2 per cent globally, TikTok is more efficient than ever at addressing harmful content before users encounter it,” the short-form mobile video platform stated.

It, however, assured that it would continue to invest in technologies aimed at improving content moderation and understanding potential risks.

It also reinforced its dedication to transparency and platform safety for its diverse user base in Nigeria and worldwide.

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, has signed into law a bill seeking to ban social media app, TikTok.

The bill which was earlier passed by the U.S. Congress requires TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app within nine months, or face a ban in the U.S.

Biden signed the bill attached to the $95 billion foreign aid package Congress approved this week that will deliver more funding to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, TikTok has vowed to take legal action against the new law.

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek called the law “unconstitutional” in a statement and vowed to “challenge it in court.”

TikTok won a legal battle against former President Donald Trump’s attempt in 2020 to force the sale of TikTok via an executive order that would prohibit any U.S.-based transactions with ByteDance if the company did not divest the app within 45 days.