Nigeria Fines MultiChoice $500,000 for Privacy Breach, Amid Larger $1.6 Billion Tax Battles
Regulators have fined the Nigerian subsidiary of Africa’s largest pay-TV operator, MultiChoice, ₦766 million (approximately $500,000) for a “patently intrusive” privacy breach.
The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) announced on Sunday that MultiChoice Nigeria — part of the South African-owned cable giant — violated the country’s data protection laws. According to Babatunde Bamgboye, head of NDPC’s enforcement unit, the breach involved an unauthorized cross-border transfer of Nigerians’ personal data.
“NDPC found that MultiChoice infringed on the data privacy rights of its subscribers and even individuals who are not customers,” Bamgboye stated.
This sanction adds to the company’s growing legal troubles in Nigeria. In 2022, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) froze MultiChoice Nigeria’s bank account and ordered it to pay ₦1.8 trillion (about $1.27 billion) in back taxes, along with an additional $342 million in value-added tax (VAT) claims.
MultiChoice, which has operated in Nigeria since 1993 and employs over 2,000 people locally, has been hard-hit by the country’s deepening economic crisis. It reportedly lost 1.4 million Nigerian subscribers over the past two years.
The company has yet to publicly respond to the latest privacy breach ruling.
