Nigerian tribunal upholds $220 million fine against Meta for violating consumer, data laws
Meta logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
ABUJA (Reuters) -A $220 million fine against Meta Platforms by Nigeria's competition watchdog for violating local consumer, data protection and privacy laws has been upheld following an unsuccessful appeal, Nigeria's Competition and Consumer Protection Tribunal said on Friday.
Nigeria's Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) fined Meta last July for discriminatory and exploitative practices against Nigerian consumers, compared with other jurisdictions with similar regulations.
(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Vietnam advances plans for international financial centre as trade risks grow
FILE PHOTO: A container ship sails past a luxury apartment complex in Ho Chi Minh City on December 3, 2021. The financial centre will operate in both financial hub Ho Chi Minh City and tourism-focused Danang.- AFP HANOI: Vietnam is moving forward with plans to establish an international financial centre to enhance its role in the global financial market and attract international capital flows, Finance Minister Nguyen Van Thang told parliament on Tuesday (June 10). The initiative could position Vietnam as a regional hub for financial activity, boosting its economic influence, according to Thang and a draft plan, now in its 30th version, seen by Reuters. The draft includes policies covering foreign exchange liberalisation, banking activities, capital market development, tax incentives and labour provisions targeting experts and investors. Foreign investment inflows into Vietnam in January-May rose 7.9 per cent to US$8.9 billion, the government said, while foreign investment pledges were up 51.1 per cent to US$18.4 billion. But the United States has threatened heavy tariffs on Vietnamese-made goods if it does not make major concessions, which could dampen its investment momentum. The country is an important manufacturing base for companies ranging from Samsung Electronics, Foxconn and Intel to Nike and Adidas. The National Assembly, Vietnamese parliament, will vote on the resolution on June 27. A key feature allows members of the financial centre to use foreign currency for transactions and secure international financing, according to the draft. "Members are permitted to establish trading floors and platforms for commodities, carbon credits, cultural products and innovative startups," the draft said. Two sources familiar with the matter confirmed the draft as the latest version. Administrative procedures will be simplified, the draft added, creating more favourable conditions for participants. The financial centre will apply accounting and financial standards, including minimum capital adequacy and liquidity ratios, specific to both 100 per cent foreign-owned banks and domestic banks, aligning with international practices. It will operate across two cities: financial hub Ho Chi Minh City and tourism-focused Danang. The government had earlier set a goal to have the centres operational this year. - Reuters
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
BP focuses on AI to boost performance
Key driver: The BP oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana. The plant processes large volumes of crude from Canada, and it is working with Palantir Technologies to embed data engineers to optimise processes on site to reduce costs and improve operational uptime. — Reuters LONDON: When engineers prepare to drill for oil, they know the spot deep underground where the well must end and can choose their starting point, but there are many possible routes in between. Optimising that subsurface path – evaluating geological opportunities and challenges to ensure a successful job – has been a time-consuming task for engineers. Now, through British Petroleum Plc's (BP) technology centre in Houston, a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool is dramatically streamlining the process and running thousands of scenarios to determine the best trajectory. 'It basically takes the time it would've taken people to do that from months down to days,' said BP executive vice-president of Technology Emeka Emembolu. 'The technology is a massive game-changer and it's getting us better outcomes in the wells we're drilling.' AI is being used by many companies across the oil industry. Exxon Mobil Corp deployed the technology to help develop its flagship offshore discovery in Guyana. Autonomous drilling has played a role in productivity improvements seen in the Unites State's shale industry. The potential for this technology to deliver significant gains in operational efficiency has particular relevance for BP. Under pressure from unhappy shareholders and aggressive activist investor Elliott Investment Management, the company is seeking to reverse a long period of poor performance by boosting growth and profitability. After several years of focusing on clean energy, oil drilling has renewed importance as BP pivots back toward fossil fuels. The financial targets that underpin chief executive officer Murray Auchincloss's strategy reset all require doing more with less – curbing capital expenditure, cutting costs, raising returns and giving more cash to shareholders. To help achieve these goals, BP is pushing AI into every part of its operations, Emembolu said in an interview in London, where he will be speaking at the Tech Week conference. 'Our technology agenda is central to growing oil and gas, central to helping us focus our downstream business and to invest in the transition with discipline,' Emembolu said. The drilling optimisation tool is already being used in fields from the Gulf of Mexico, a key driver of US oil output growth this year, to Azerbaijan, where BP earlier this month advanced a US$2.9bil natural gas project. In the Eagle Ford shale formation in Texas, Emembolu said an AI-generated 'morning report' is directing field hands to locations most urgently in need of work and reduce the amount of time spent driving between sites. Near Chicago, where BP's Whiting refinery processes large volumes of crude from Canada, the company is working with Palantir Technologies Inc to embed data engineers to optimise processes on site to reduce costs and improve operational uptime. Disruption at the facility can have a significant impact on BP's earnings, such as in the first quarter of 2024 when a storm led to a lengthy shutdown. The technology is also being used outside of core oil and gas businesses – identifying optimal locations for the fastest electric vehicle chargers, helping Indian motorists avoid lines at fuel stations with mobile notifications, and advising German convenience store managers on how many pastries to bake each morning. 'In terms of costs, we're looking at things from all scales,' Emembolu said. 'Nothing is too big or too small for us to look at.' — Bloomberg
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Trump says willing to extend trade talks deadline, but says that won't be necessary
US President Donald Trump. — Reuters WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would be willing to extend a July 8 deadline for completing trade talks with countries before higher U.S. tariffs take effect, but did not believe that would be necessary. Trump told reporters before a performance at the Kennedy Center that trade negotiations were continuing with some 15 countries, including South Korea, Japan and the European Union. "We're rocking in terms of deals," he said. "We're dealing with quite a few countries and they all want to make a deal with us." He said he did not believe a deadline extension would be "a necessity." Trump said the U.S. would send out letters in coming weeks specifying the terms of trade deals to dozens of other countries, which they could then embrace or reject. "At a certain point, we're just going to send letters out ... saying, 'This is the deal. You can take it, or you can leave it,'" Trump said. "So at a certain point we'll do that. We're not quite ready." U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told lawmakers earlier that the Trump administration could extend the July trade deal deadline - or "roll the date forward" for countries negotiating in good faith, in certain cases. A 90-day pause in Trump's broadest, "reciprocal" tariffs will end on July 8, with only one trade deal agreed with Britain and some 17 others at various stages of negotiation. "It is highly likely that those countries - or trading blocs as is the case with the EU - who are negotiating in good faith, we will roll the date forward to continue the good-faith negotiations," Bessent told the House Ways and Means Committee. "If someone is not negotiating, then we will not." Bessent's remarks marked the first time a Trump administration official has indicated some flexibility around the expiration date for the pause. Bessent reiterated the possibility of more negotiating time at a second hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, saying it was "my belief that countries that are negotiating in good faith could be rolled forward." He said the European Union had previously been slower to come forward with robust proposals, but was now showing "better faith," without providing specifics. Trump echoed that more upbeat view on Wednesday, saying, "They do want to negotiate." A deal struck on Tuesday in London with China to de-escalate that bilateral trade war is proceeding on a separate track and timeline, with an August 10 deadline set last month. The president has been the final decision-maker on his administration's tariff and trade policies, but Bessent's influence has increased in recent months and the Treasury chief has been viewed by many trading partners as a moderating voice. Trump announced the pause on April 9, a week after unveiling "Liberation Day" tariffs against nearly all U.S. trading partners that proved to be so unexpectedly large and sweeping that it sent global financial markets into near panic. The S&P 500 Index plunged more than 12% in four days for its heftiest run of losses since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Investors were so rattled they bailed out of safe-haven U.S. Treasury securities, sending bond yields rocketing higher. The dollar sank. Markets started their recovery on April 9 when Trump unexpectedly announced the pause. The recovery continued in early May when the Trump team agreed to dial back the triple-digit tariff rates it had imposed on goods from China. Those events have given rise to what some on Wall Street have parodied as the "TACO" trade - an acronym for Trump Always Chickens Out. "The only time the market has reacted positively is when the administration is in retreat from key policy areas," Democratic Representative Don Beyer of Virginia told Bessent before pressing him on what to expect when the July deadline expires. "As I have said repeatedly there are 18 important trading partners. We are working toward deals with those," Bessent said before going on to signal a willingness to offer extensions to those negotiating in good faith. - Reuters
