On July 20th, the Nigerian government levied a hefty fine of $2.2 million (approximately 1.6 billion yuan) on Meta, the parent company of Facebook and WhatsApp, according to a report from The Associated Press. This fine follows an investigation that revealed Meta’s violation of the country’s data protection and consumer rights laws on multiple occasions.

The fine follows an investigation that reveals Meta’s violation of the country’s data protection

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission of Nigeria (FCCPC) outlined some of the specific violations identified during their investigation. These included unauthorized sharing of Nigerian user data, depriving consumers of the right to control their own data, engaging in discriminatory practices, and abusing its market dominance.

In a statement, FCCPC CEO Adamu Abdullahi declared the commission’s satisfaction with the gathered evidence and confirmed that Meta had ample opportunity to address the concerns. “The committee has now entered the final order and punished the Meta Party,” Abdullahi concluded.

This hefty fine comes on the heels of another penalty Meta faced last month. In June, the Italian Antitrust Authority (AGCM) imposed a €3.5 million (approximately 27.74 million yuan) fine on Meta for unfair business practices. The AGCM investigation revealed that Meta did not explicitly obtain user consent for collecting and using data for commercial purposes during the Instagram registration process. Additionally, the Italian regulator found that Meta failed to provide users with proper communication channels to contest suspended Facebook and Instagram accounts. While the AGCM reported that Meta has since rectified these practices, the consequences of these policy violations are becoming increasingly clear.

(Via)

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Early this year, when the Indian government was in a battle with Twitter, an Indian-developed alternative called Koo, was launched. The micro-blogging platform, which shares several features with the platform it is trying to replace, was originally designed specifically for Indians as it offered its services in multiple local languages. A new report has announced that Koo is now available in Nigeria. This comes shortly after the Nigerian government banned Twitter in the country.

According to India Today, Koo made the announcement on Saturday, a day after the Federal Government of Nigeria banned Twitter. The CEO of Koo, Aprameya Radhakrishna, not only confirmed that it now offers its services in Nigeria but also revealed that they are considering offering it in a local Nigerian language too. There are over 500 native languages spoken in Nigeria including Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba.

The Twitter ban has resulted in several users including some government officials resorting to VPNs to access the platform as all internet service providers in the country have blocked access to it. It remains to be seen if these users will switch to Koo or stick to Twitter.

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After teasing the Mi 10T series launch for the past few days, Xiaomi Nigeria has finally debuted the smartphones in the country. We thought the company would be only bringing the regular Mi 10T to the region. However, we turned out to be wrong as the firm has announced the Pro variant as well.

The Xiaomi Mi 10T series is the second generation of Mi T series of phones. Its predecessor Mi 9T series was nothing but a rebadged Redmi K20 series. But the current-gen consists of original devices but still two of them are sold as Redmi K30S Ultra (Mi 10T) and Redmi Note 9 Pro 5G (a tweaked Mi 10T Lite) in China.

Having said that, Xiaomi usually doesn’t launch its expensive products in Nigeria. But despite the global economic crisis due to the COVID-19 padmic, the company debuted most of its products in almost all the regions where it has a presence.

Hence, the Mi 10T series has made their way to Nigeria as well. Anyway, going by the comments on social media, people in the country seem not to be happy with the pricing.

Because Xiaomi has priced the Mi 10T (8GB + 128GB) at N231,000 ($608) and Mi 10T Pro (8GB + 256GB) at N265,000 ($697) respectively. To be fair, the Nigerian pricing is equivalent to that of European. 

But netizens are complaining that the same handsets cost less in countries like India and China. And it is definitely not wrong for them to criticize but at the end of day, local regulation and taxation plays a key role for any product’s price.

We hope that one day people in Nigeria could purchase Xiaomi products at a reasonable price.

UP NEXT: Xiaomi and Redmi to launch two flagship models with Snapdragon 888 SoC each

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Xiaomi unveiled the Mi 10T series consisting of Mi 10T, Mi 10T Pro, and Mi 10T Lite in late September for Europe. The first two handsets later made their way to India. The duo even debuted in Indonesia and other markets. The regular model is also sold as Redmi K30S Ultra in China. Now, this series is set to land in Nigeria as well.

The official Xiaomi Nigeria Twitter account has been teasing the launch of the Mi 10T series in the country for the last few days. According to the teasers, the series will be officially unveiled on December 16.

That said, it is not known if the Chinese smartphone maker will be launching the standard Mi 10T or the Mi 10T Pro. That’s because the teasers only showcase a single device and it is definitely not the Mi 10T Lite, which is expected to debut in India as Mi 10i.

Since Xiaomi does not have much presence in Nigeria, the company may not launch the expensive Mi 10T Pro with a 108MP primary camera. Instead, the customers in the region may probably get the regular Mi 10T model that has the exact same specs as the Pro version but features a 64MP primary sensor.

Anyway, we will know exactly which device in the Mi 10T series will be announced for Nigeria on December 16 along with its price.

UP NEXT: Exclusive: Xiaomi Mi 11 scheduled for December 29 launch

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Gionee S12 Lite will be launching on October 5 in Nigeria, as per the brand. The company has revealed everything about this device except for its price. The design of this handset resembles budget smartphones released in 2019.

The upcoming Gionee S12 Lite is an affordable smartphone powered by MediaTek helio A25 chipset paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. If needed, users can expand the device’s limited storage by inserting a microSD card.

On the front, the handset sports a 6.52-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 720 x 1,600 pixels (HD+), 20:9 aspect ratio and a dew-drop notch nesting an 8MP selfie camera.

EDITOR’S PICK: Gionee M30 launched in China with 8GB RAM, 10,000mAH battery & more

Whereas, on the back, the phone houses a vertically aligned triple-camera setup consisting of a 13MP primary sensor, a 5MP sensor with an ultra-wide sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor. The rear panel of the device also includes a capacitive fingerprint sensor.

Other features of this phone include dual-SIM, 4G, single-band WiFi (2.4GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, 3.5mm headphone jack, FM Radio, MicroUSB port, Android 10, and a 4,000mAh battery.

Last but not least, the body of this handset is made of polycarbonate like any other budget smartphone and buyers will be able to pick it up in either Blue or Gray color version.

UP NEXT: Gionee K3 Pro with 6.53-inch display, Helio P60 and 4,000mAh battery launched in China

(Via)

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