Federal High Court to Hear ARCON’s N30bn Lawsuit Against Facebook’s Meta Platforms in October
The Federal High Court, Abuja Judicial Division, is scheduled to hear a N30 billion lawsuit filed by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria against Meta Platforms Incorporated (the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) and its agent, AT3 Resources Limited, in October.
The Director-General of ARCON
, Olalekan Fadolapo, disclosed this during an interview with Punch.
ARCON is pursuing a declaration that Meta Platforms Incorporated’s practice of publishing and exposing various advertisements directed at the Nigerian market through Facebook and Instagram platforms without prior vetting and approval is illegal, unlawful, and a violation of Nigeria’s existing advertising laws.
ARCON argues that Meta Platforms Incorporated’s continuous exposure of unvetted advertisements has resulted in a loss of revenue for the Federal Government.
Fadolapo confirmed that the Federal High Court in Abuja had granted ARCON permission to serve a writ of summons to Meta. The writ was served at the company’s corporate headquarters in the United States. This step was taken after Meta claimed it had no physical office in Nigeria.
Fadolapo stated, “The case is coming up this October because the level of shenanigans happening on that platform (Facebook) is too much. But trust me, we will use all legal means to sanitize that space. What we are saying is that what they are showing to the Nigerian audience, which is our territorial space, is indecent. We will not regulate the media in the US, but we will regulate the media space here in Nigeria.”
He emphasized that their concern is not about Meta’s office location but about the business they are conducting in Nigeria, and if they are operating in Nigeria, they should comply with Nigerian laws.
To recall, in October 2022, ARCON announced that it had filed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Incorporated and its agent, AT3 Resources Limited, at the Federal High Court, Abuja Judicial Division.