By Dansu Peter Prominent human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has filed a $5 million lawsuit against Meta Platf...
By Dansu Peter
In court filings, Falana contends that Meta published a video on Facebook falsely claiming he had been battling a medical condition known as prostatitis for over 16 years. The video, attributed to a page named "AfriCare Health Centre," allegedly featured his name, images, and a fabricated voiceover narrating details of his supposed struggle with the condition. Falana maintains that he has never suffered from the illness and views the publication as a deliberate falsehood aimed at tarnishing his reputation.
Through his lawyer, Olumide Babalola, Falana is invoking constitutional and statutory provisions, citing Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and relevant sections of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. He argues that Meta’s failure to verify the content before its dissemination constitutes an unjustifiable breach of his fundamental right to privacy.
Seeking redress, the veteran lawyer is urging the court to declare the publication unlawful, order its immediate removal from Facebook, and award him $5 million in damages for the distress and reputational harm suffered. He asserts that the video has been widely viewed, causing him emotional anguish and subjecting him to public ridicule.
Falana further alleges that Meta’s actions were reckless and driven by commercial interests, aimed at increasing platform engagement and ad revenue. He insists that the social media giant failed in its duty to regulate false and misleading content, thereby enabling the violation of his privacy.
With the lawsuit now before the court, legal observers anticipate a high-profile legal battle that could set a precedent for digital privacy rights in Nigeria.
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