ARCON withdraws N30bn ‘illegal advertisement’ suit against Meta

A federal high court in Abuja has struck out a suit filed by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) against Meta Platforms Incorporated, owners of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp social media channels.

In October 2022, ARCON sued Meta and its agent, AT3 Resources Limited, for showing unapproved advertisements to the Nigerian audience.

However, in a ruling on Friday, Peter Lifu, the presiding judge, struck out the case following a notice of discontinuance entered by Micheal Okorie, counsel to ARCON.

ARCON’S ARGUMENT

In its writ of summons, the advertising council said Meta, which is managed by AT3 in Nigeria, has continued to show unvetted adverts, leading to the federal government’s revenue loss.

ARCON submitted that Meta’s advertisement and marketing communications on various online and social media platforms are a major source of its revenue globally and Nigeria inclusive.

The plaintiff said online statistics in 2022 showed that about 37 million Nigerians were active users of Meta’s online social media platforms and were being exposed to adverts and marketing communications that were not approved by the council.

The council also alleged that the defendants were not paying the prescribed statutory vetting fees to the federal government for every advertisement and marketing communication on its platforms in contravention of extant advertising laws in Nigeria.

Therefore, ARCON sought a N30 billion sanction against Meta for the continued violation of Nigeria’s advertising laws and for loss of revenue to be paid to the federal government’s treasury single account (TSA).

Meta, through its lawyer, Tayo Otetibo had challenged the court’s jurisdiction to hear the suit.

He submitted that Meta is a foreign entity registered in the United States of America(USA) and has not submitted to the jurisdiction of the Nigerian court.