Following a confidential settlement that sparked questions about Nigeria’s approach to data protection enforcement and regulatory openness, the country reduced a $32.8 million fine imposed on Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) imposed the penalties in February 2025 due to suspected infractions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. It came after a September 2023 inquiry that looked into how Meta handled the personal information of over 60 million Nigerian users.
The NDPC had accused Meta of a number of violations, including the employment of algorithms that could put consumers at risk for financial and health problems, the acquisition of data from non-users, the lack of specific authorization for behavioural advertising, and unauthorized cross-border data transfers.
In line with global enforcement trends in the US, UK, and EU, where Meta and other significant tech companies have been hit with multibillion-dollar fines for comparable infractions, the regulator at the time characterized the penalty as part of efforts to fortify digital rights protections in Africa’s most populous nation.
Documents from a later settlement, however, show that Nigeria changed its mind in October 2025. As part of the deal, Meta was released from the $32.8 million fine and merely had to pay the government’s legal costs when the NDPC’s final rulings were challenged in court.
The Federal High Court in Abuja approved the settlement on November 3, 2025, after it was signed on October 30, 2025. The terms of the arrangement were not made public at the time and only recently surfaced through leaked material, notwithstanding this judicial confirmation.
Given the scope of the original accusations and the number of impacted customers, the development has raised concerns about regulatory enforcement’s openness.
Regulatory deterrence is weakened, according to data protection attorney Iliya-Ezekiel Ndatse.
He pointed out that “removing penalties after such findings weakens the credibility of compliance obligations and reduces the effectiveness of enforcement actions.”
The issue has also been compared to Nigeria’s prior Twitter controversy, now known as X, which was banned in 2021 prior to a negotiated settlement.
The Meta settlement, according to analysts, is a reflection of a larger problem facing regulators in developing digital economies, where governments are trying to strike a balance between the need to severely enforce data protection rules and investment incentives from multinational technology companies.
Although Nigeria’s original decision was seen as a sign of increasing regulatory maturity, the country’s consistency in implementing its data governance framework has come under additional scrutiny as a result of the reversal.
Meta has just acknowledged the settlement, and the NDPC has not publicly said why the sanction was waived.
The result raises concerns about how Nigeria plans to enforce compliance in upcoming high-profile data privacy cases, especially as digital platforms grow their user base across the country.
In April 2026, Nigeria dropped a $32.8 million fine against Meta for data privacy violations after a confidential settlement, following the Nigeria Data Protection Commission’s original February 2025 penalty over unauthorized data transfers and targeted ads aimed at minors.
Under the settlement, the $32.8 million fine was canceled, with Meta only required to cover Nigeria’s legal costs, while the government set aside its Final Orders to discharge Meta from past liabilities and soften prior regulatory obligations in exchange for Meta’s pledge to ethically handle Nigerian users’ data going forward.
The reversal has sparked intense debate over the credibility of Nigeria’s regulatory framework, with critics arguing that dropping the fine after a 17-month probe weakens deterrence, analysts calling the confidential settlement a blow to data sovereignty that lets global tech giants evade penalties through private deals, and transparency concerns arising from a court-validated but secret agreement, though this case remains separate from a larger $220 million fine upheld against Meta by the FCCPC over anti-competitive and invasive data practices.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
