The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection has accused Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, of blackmail after threatening to suspend its operations in Nigeria to avoid paying a $290 million fine.

The FCCPC’s director of corporate affairs, Ondaje Ijagwu, in a statement on Saturday, described the company’s threat as a calculated move to induce a negative public reaction and potentially pressure the commission to reconsider its decision.

The commission slammed Meta for threatening to halt operations in Nigeria, but complied with fines imposed by other countries over similar offences.

“Interestingly, Meta had been fined for similar breaches in Texas ($1.5 billion) and only recently was asked to pay $1.3 billion for violating E.U. Data Privacy Rules. Elsewhere in India, South Korea, France and Australia, Meta had faced varying penalties for similar breaches. But Meta never resorted to the blackmail of threatening to exit those countries. They obeyed,” FCCPC said.

Meta threatened to shut down Instagram and Facebook services in Nigeria after the federal government imposed fines totalling $290 million for allegedly violating the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) and the Nigerian Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) on Facebook and WhatsApp.

The executive chairman of the FCCPC, Adamu Abdullahi, had, in July 2024, accused Meta of breaching local consumer and data protection regulations through its illegal data-sharing practices before handing out the fine.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal upheld the fine on April 25. It rejected the tech giant’s appeal against the “unrealistic” regulatory demand, which the FCCPC insisted must be paid by the end of June 2025.

“The applicant may be forced to effectively shut down the Facebook and Instagram services in Nigeria to mitigate the risk of enforcement measures,” the tech giant said in its appeal.

However, FCCPC urged Meta Parties to comply with Nigerian law, stop exploiting consumers, change their practices to meet the country’s standards and respect consumer rights consistent with international best practices.

The commission added that Meta’s threats would not absolve the company of liabilities for the outcome of a judicial process.

“The recent affirmation of FCCPC’s final order by the Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal requires Meta Parties to take steps to comply with Nigerian law, stop exploiting Nigerian consumers, change their practices to meet Nigerian standards and respect consumer rights, consistent with international best practices.

“Threatening to leave Nigeria does not absolve Meta of liabilities for the outcome of a judicial process,” FCCPC said.