Meta Appeals Nigerian Regulator's Ruling Against Forced Ad-Tracking Consent
Meta has filed an appeal against a Nigerian regulatory ruling that found the company cannot compel Nigerian users to accept behavioural advertising tracking as a condition of service. The case is being watched across the continent as a potential precedent on data consent and targeted advertising regulation in African markets.
Meta Nigeria: can 'free' ever mean consent?
Justice Pokanu's ruling lands on one precise idea: putting behavioural tracking inside your terms of service doesn't make it necessary to run the service.
Meta's argument is that Facebook is free because advertising funds it, so data processing is part of the deal users accept at sign-up. The court said that's not good enough — building profiles to target ads is ancillary to the platform working, not essential to it. You can scroll your feed without Meta selling a model of your psychology to an advertiser.
That distinction, if it survives appeal, is the one that matters for every platform operating across Africa.
1 source
- Meta appeals ruling that it can’t force Nigerians to accept ad tracking · techcabal.com · T1