US tech giant Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — vowed earlier this month to fight huge fines issued by authorities in Nigeria for regulatory breaches. 

It comes after a Nigerian tribunal in April rejected Meta's appeal against a $220-million (€202-million) fine imposed last year by the country's consumer protection agency, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

FCCPC Chief Executive Officer Adamu Abdullahi said investigations carried out in conjunction with the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) between May 2021 and December 2023 revealed "invasive practices against data subjects/consumers in Nigeria."

The FCCPC accused Meta of discriminatory practices, abuse of market dominance, sharing Nigerians' personal data without authorization and denying Nigerians the right to determine how their data is used.

A Meta spokesperson told the AFP news agency that they "disagree with the NDPC's decision, which fails to take into account the wide range of settings and tools that allow everyone using Facebook and Instagram in Nigeria to control how their information is used."

"We're committed to protecting user privacy and have appealed the decision," the spokesperson added.

Content moderation sparks legal action

Meanwhile, according to British daily The Guardian, lawyers are preparing for a lawsuit against Majorel, a company owned by tech contractor Teleperformance, which is paid by Meta for content moderation.

Content moderators working for Majorel in Ghana's capital, Accra, told The Guardian that they have suffered from depression, anxiety, insomnia and substance abuse. They believe this is a direct result of their work as content moderators. They also claim that the psychological support offered to help process disturbing social media content was inadequate.

Teleperformance has reportedly denied these accusations. According to The Guardian, the company employs its own mental health professionals, who are registered with the local supervisory authority. DW asked Majorel for comment but received no reply.

In September 2024, a court in Kenya ruled that Meta can be sued, leading to further court cases and mediation proceedings.

Calls for stronger regulatory framework

Africa is a growing market for tech, with more companies setting up operations on the continent than elsewhere across the world. Beyond growth and expansion opportunities for global tech firms, the African continent also provides cheap labor and access to millions of multicultural and diverse users.

However, unlike in Europe, holding tech companies accountable in Africa is complicated by lax and weak enforcement of data protection laws, most of which are similar to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation.

"It's a shifting landscape," said Akintunde Babatunde, executive director of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), a think tank. He noted that "whatever happens to those lawsuits will set precedent for what would potentially be a playbook for a lot of other countries on the continent." 

Babatunde attributed this to the evolution of tech companies over the years.

"Tech platforms are no longer neutral platforms. They now serve as digital infrastructure for activism, social movements, the public sphere and even the digital economy," he said, calling for regulatory frameworks for tech platforms in Africa, as with other basic amenities.

"We should think of them the same way we think of roads or airports as essential utilities that are central to everyday life. And just as airports are regulated locally and globally by aviation bodies, there's a need for a similar framework for tech platforms [on the continent]."

Gbenga Sesan, executive director of Paradigm Initiative, an NGO working to connect under-served young Africans with digital opportunities, told DW that the decisions of these African countries go beyond exerting digital sovereignty, aiming to boost regulatory revenues.

Some African countries are already working toward securing the value chains by strengthening their data laws. For instance, Nigeria's data protection agency has said it generated more than $1.2 million in regulatory revenue over the last two years.

"Many countries in Africa have seen what happened in India, Europe and other regions, and are thinking that 'these companies are collecting our data and not paying anything for it'. That is also a significant factor behind the fines. But these fines are not an end in themselves," the digital rights expert said.

"It's important that every company, including Meta and others, knows that there'd be consequences if data privacy laws aren't adhered to."

What happens next?

While it seems that Africa is gradually taking matters into its own hands, there are still palpable fears about governments on the continent using digital regulation and privacy laws to suppress dissenting voices under the guise of tech accountability.

In recent years, young Africans have used platforms owned by global tech companies, such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), to mobilize and hold their governments accountable.

The "Gen Z protests" in Kenya began with a hashtag on X before morphing into a movement that eventually forced authorities to back down on a controversial finance bill.

In 2021, the Nigerian government suspended X after the platform deleted a post from former President Muhammadu Buhari threatening to punish regional secessionists.

While he described these repressive actions as the "real problem," 'Gbenga noted that some African governments attack these platforms "because they are used by the opposition," and as such, "there's the tendency for governments to use that excuse to shut down and restrict platforms that they know citizens use significantly to drive conversations around dissenting voices."

Stephanie Höppner contributed reporting

Edited by: Keith Walker