Justice L. C. Alinnor held that the applicant had not proved Meta infringed her right to privacy after the regulator's order her case rested on was set aside.
The High Court of Imo State sitting in Iho has dismissed a $25 million fundamental rights action against Meta Platforms Inc., in a judgement delivered on 21 July 2026, Premium Times reported.
The applicant, Chika Chukwuemeka, alleged that Meta collected, processed, and profiled her personal data for behavioural advertising without her consent, in breach of section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. Meta argued that users agree to its terms when they register and that consent is not the only lawful basis for processing under the Act.
Justice L. C. Alinnor, according to the certified true copy of the judgement Premium Times said it received, held that the applicant "failed to satisfactorily prove the infringement of her fundamental rights or show how the respondents orchestrated the alleged infringement." The court found that her case rested on a Final Order of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) against Meta, which the Federal High Court, Abuja, set aside after Meta and the commission settled. "With the setting aside of the Final Order, the very substratum upon which the applicant built her case collapsed," the judge held.
The court rejected Meta's objections to its territorial jurisdiction and to service and made no order as to costs.
Section 37 of the Constitution provides that "the privacy of citizens, their homes, correspondence, telephone conversations and telegraphic communications is hereby guaranteed and protected." The NDPC's General Application and Implementation Directive (GAID) 2025, citing section 25 of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, lists consent as one of six lawful bases for processing personal data, alongside contractual obligation, legal obligation, vital interest, public interest and legitimate interest.
No appeal has been reported.
