The Nigerian Government has said it will vigorously engage leadership of social media giant Facebook, over its new updated privacy policy which states that WhatsApp will share information of its users with Facebook, which is its parent company, and other Facebook companies.
The engagement to be initiated by the Nigerian government follows the government’s commitment to upholding the data privacy of Nigerians as stated in its Nigeria Data Protection Regulations (NDPR) passed in 2019.
It is also to prevent the possibility of the new policy breaching the NDPR regulations.
In a statement issued by Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) on Friday May 21, it posits that the engagement with Facebook has become necessary as the government seeks to understand the processes, level of security, among others the data of Nigerian users in order to ensure that policies proposed for Nigeria strictly adhere to the provisions of NDPR.
Particularly given the fact that the European region is exempt from the provisions of the updated policy.
Per Facebook’s new policy for WhatsApp, some of the data to be shared with other Facebook companies by users include user phone numbers, transaction data, service-related information, mobile device information, IP address and others.
The government has assured Nigerians that it will give uttermost attention to the privacy of their data, in line with the NDPR and the National Digital Economy Policy for a digital Nigeria.
Read below details of the press statemnet by Nigeria’s NITDA
The attention of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM, has been brought to the updated Privacy Policy of the WhatsApp messaging application.
’The Policy states that WhatsApp will share information about the users on their platform with their parent company (Facebook), as well as other Facebook companies.
The information includes user phone numbers, “transaction data, service-related information, information on how you interact with others (including businesses) when using our Services, mobile device information, your IP address.” Furthermore, WhatsApp has indicated that users who refuse to accept their revised privacy policy risk not being able to use the service at all.
The Federal Government released the Nigeria Data Protection Regulations (NDPR) in 2019 and is committed to upholding the data privacy of Nigerians. We are also aware that the European region is exempt from the provisions of the updated Policy and it is also being challenged in a number of countries.
The Honourable Minister has therefore directed the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), as the Regulator of the Information Technology sector, to engage vigorously with Facebook to understand the processes, level of security, etc of the data of Nigerian users in order to ensure that Policies proposed for Nigeria strictly adhere to the provisions of NDPR.’
