Meta Platforms has appealed a Lagos High Court ruling that restricted its use of Nigerian Facebook and Instagram users’ personal data for behavioural advertising.
The company filed its notice of appeal on September 30, five days after Justice A.F. Pokanu of the Lagos High Court, Ikorodu Judicial Division, ruled that Meta’s collection, profiling and use of users’ data for targeted advertising without valid consent violated their privacy rights.
The case has now moved to the Court of Appeal, where judges will consider issues surrounding consent, behavioural advertising and the transfer of Nigerian users’ data outside the country.
The suit was filed by the Incorporated Trustees of Laws and Rights Awareness Initiative and five individuals.
Justice Pokanu ordered Meta to stop the processing found to be unlawful, take steps to bring its Nigerian data-processing operations into compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 and file an affidavit of compliance within eight weeks.
The court also awarded the applicants $100,000 in general damages, N1m in costs and post-judgment interest.
At the centre of the appeal is whether Meta can make behavioural profiling and targeted advertising a condition of accessing Facebook and Instagram.
Meta maintains that its platforms are free services funded by advertising and that users accept its terms and privacy policy when they sign up. The company’s position is that processing user data for advertising forms part of the arrangement under which it provides the services.
The High Court rejected that argument, holding that behavioural advertising was not automatically necessary to provide social networking services simply because advertising funds the platforms.
The court found that profiling users for targeted advertising was ancillary to Facebook and Instagram and could not be made compulsory merely by incorporating it into standard terms of service.
Justice Pokanu also held that where Meta relied on consent as the legal basis for processing personal data, it had to demonstrate that users had provided valid consent.
The court said consent to profiling and behavioural advertising could not simply be incorporated into broad terms that users had to accept before accessing the platforms.
The judgment further addressed Meta’s processing of Nigerian users’ data outside the country.
Meta had argued that it had no data centre in Nigeria and that users effectively transferred their information abroad when they used its services. The court rejected that position, holding that users did not determine where their data was routed, stored or processed.
As a major data controller, Meta remained responsible for complying with Nigerian requirements governing international data transfers, the court held.
The ruling came amid previous regulatory disputes between Meta and Nigerian authorities.
In 2024, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission fined Meta and WhatsApp $220m following an investigation into alleged consumer-protection, privacy and competition violations. The Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal later upheld the sanction.
The applicants in the Lagos case also referred to an earlier action by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission involving Meta, which included a $32.8m remedial fee. That dispute was subsequently resolved through a consent judgment.
The latest appeal will determine whether the High Court’s interpretation of consent and behavioural advertising survives further judicial scrutiny.
For Nigerian users, the outcome could affect how social-media companies obtain consent for using personal data for targeted advertising and how they handle users’ information transferred or processed outside the country.
Meta’s appeal means the High Court’s September 25 judgment is now subject to review by the Court of Appeal.
Discussion0