Secret Meta Deal Saw Nigeria Waive USD 32.8 M Fine & Drop Key Demands

Nigeria quietly wrote off a USD 32.8 M fine against Meta Platforms Inc. last year, a review found, under a secret settlement agreement that erased the company’s financial liability over alleged data privacy violations affecting more than 60 million Nigerian users.

The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) imposed the penalty in February 2025 following a 17-month investigation that accused Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, of multiple breaches of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

The regulator alleged the tech giant had processed personal data of over 60 million Nigerians without explicit consent, used the information for targeted advertising, transferred data across borders without proper authorisation, collected data from non-users, and deployed algorithms that could expose users to financial and health risks.

But what was hailed at the time as a landmark enforcement action, one of the first of its kind in Africa, collapsed behind closed doors. On 30 October 2025, the NDPC and Meta signed a confidential settlement agreement. Days later, on 3 November 2025, a Federal High Court in Abuja converted the deal into a formal consent judgment, according to certified court documents obtained by Premium Times.

Under the terms of the agreement, Nigeria absolved Meta of all liabilities, waived the entire USD 32.8 M penalty, and set aside the original “Final Orders” that had required the company to overhaul its data handling practices. The company agreed only to cover the legal costs Nigeria incurred during court proceedings in which Meta had challenged the NDPC’s orders.

Most of the original corrective obligations were softened or removed entirely, the review discovered, replaced with vague commitments to handle Nigerian users’ data more ethically in the future and to collaborate on public awareness campaigns about data privacy. In return for writing off the fine, which resulted from months of investigation by the NDPC, Meta pledged simply to be “ethical” going forward, a promise critics say carries little enforceable weight.

The Data Privacy Lawyers Association of Nigeria (DPLAN) had, in December, issued a pre-action notice to the NDPC, arguing that the commission lacked the legal authority to compromise the remedial fine. The group is demanding the restoration of the original USD 32.8 M penalty. A court hearing is expected this year.

The NDPC has defended the deal, arguing that it reflects a balanced approach that prioritises compliance and public education over punitive fines. The commission has partnered with Meta to translate the Nigeria Data Protection Act into local languages and run awareness campaigns on Facebook.

But the secrecy surrounding the agreement has fuelled distrust. The government kept the full terms hidden for months, only surfacing through recent investigative reporting. The episode has drawn comparisons to Nigeria’s 2021 dispute with Twitter (now X), which was banned before a similarly opaque negotiated resolution.