ABUJA, July 23 -- The recent fine of 220 million U.S. dollars slammed on U.S. tech giant Meta Platforms and WhatsApp by Nigeria was based on discriminatory practices and sanctionable offenses committed, the country's competition watchdog said Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) said that the penalty was slammed on the companies after three years of intensive investigations.

Adamu Abdullahi, the acting head of the FCCPC, told reporters that the Meta Platforms were found guilty of denying Nigerian data subjects the right to self-determination, unauthorized transfer, and sharing personal data which was not the practice in other climes.

In other climes, the Meta Platforms gave data subjects the option to decide whether to share their data, but that was not the case in Nigeria, Abdullahi said, noting last week, the competition authorities were moved to issue a final order and imposed a penalty of 220 million dollars over discriminatory practices in Nigeria.

"We found out that when you register for the first time to join WhatsApp, there is a column that says you have agreed to your data being shared for research. Secondly, we found out that they share our data across platforms," the official said.

In response to the alleged violation of Nigeria's data privacy laws, WhatsApp has vowed that its parent body will appeal the monetary fine, saying it disagreed with the decision by the local competition watchdog, the News Agency of Nigeria reported, citing an official statement.

  - Xinhua