BREAKING: WhatsApp May Exit Nigeria Over $220m fine – Report Claims 

BREAKING: WhatsApp May Exit Nigeria Over $220m fine – Report Claims 

Following the imposition of a $220 million fine on WhatsApp by Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission for a data privacy breach, there are indications that the company may halt its services in the country due to additional regulatory requirements.

Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company, is reportedly considering withdrawing certain services in response to the fine and directives issued by the FCCPC.

Among the FCCPC’s directives include stopping the sharing of user data with other Facebook entities and third parties without explicit consent from users.

Additionally, WhatsApp has been asked to provide transparency on its data collection practices and enhance user control over data utilization.

In response, a WhatsApp spokesperson emailed TechCabal, “We want to be clear that, technically, based on the order, it would be impossible to provide WhatsApp in Nigeria or globally.”

Criticism has been directed towards the FCCPC’s directives, with assertions that they are flawed and fail to accurately depict WhatsApp’s data management practices.

Meta has not specifically addressed the FCCPC’s concerns regarding user opt-out options from the 2021 privacy policy but maintains that no user data is being shared.

The company’s privacy policy states, “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.”