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The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and CEO of Meta Platforms, Inc. (Facebook), to “immediately pay the $220 million fine imposed on Meta by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) and upheld by the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal.”
SERAP further urged Mr. Zuckerberg and Meta to provide, in addition to the fine, justice and effective remedies, including adequate compensation and assurances of non-repetition for the victims of serious violations of Nigerian consumer, data protection, and privacy laws, as well as international human rights standards.
SERAP also urged Mr. Zuckerberg and Meta to “immediately pay the $35,000 awarded by the Tribunal to the FCCPC as the cost of investigation.”
SERAP urged Mr. Zuckerberg and Meta to “immediately halt the violations found by the Tribunal and prevent their re-occurrence, as well as ensure the accountability of any person(s) responsible for the violations.”
Last Friday, the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal upheld Nigeria’s FCCPC’s $220 million fine against Meta for grave violations of consumer, data protection, and privacy laws.
In the letter dated 26 April 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “As Chairman and CEO, you ought to ensure enhanced transparency, human rights due diligence, accountability and remediation by Meta to ensure that Nigerians’ human rights are not threatened or violated.
“The Tribunal’s judgment confirms that the operations of Meta (Facebook) in Nigeria have violated Nigerians’ human rights and continued to have a chilling effect on the enjoyment of human rights on Meta platforms.”
The open letter read in part: “SERAP is concerned that the human rights violations found by the Tribunal may be ongoing, and have a high risk of recurrence if not adequately and effectively redressed.
“SERAP urges you and Meta not to unnecessarily prolong the harms suffered by the victims by resisting the temptation to pursue any appeal against the Tribunal’s judgment under the provisions of section 55 of the FCCP Act.”
SERAP said it “would be grateful if these measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter”.
“If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions at the national, regional or international levels to compel you and Meta to comply with our requests in the public interest,” the organisation said.
It recalled that the Tribunal’s judgment followed a “38-month joint investigation initiated by the FCCPC and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) into the conduct, privacy practices, and consumer data policies of Meta Platforms and WhatsApp”.
SERAP has therefore urged Mr. Zuckerberg and Meta to publicly commit to immediately complying with the Tribunal’s judgment by paying the $220 million fine for the serious violations of Nigerian consumer, data protection, and privacy laws, as well as international human rights standards.
The organisation also called on Meta to immediately identify the victims, provide them with justice, effective remedies, and adequate compensation, along with guarantees of non-repetition for the harm they have suffered.
Furthermore, SERAP has called for Meta to pay the $35,000 awarded by the Tribunal to the FCCPC as the cost of the investigation. The organisation urged Meta to promptly provide information on any human rights due diligence steps it has undertaken, as set out in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, to address the impact of these violations on Nigerians’ enjoyment of their human rights, particularly the right to privacy.
Lastly, SERAP has requested Meta to disclose how it is applying the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and other international human rights standards in its operations in Nigeria, as well as to provide information on any steps it has taken or plans to take regarding the publication of transparency reports on the violations found by the Tribunal and integrating international human rights standards into its business model.
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