By Stephen Simon
The Imo State High Court has dismissed a fundamental rights suit in which Chika B. Chukwuemeka sought $25 million in damages from Meta Platforms Inc. over alleged breaches of her privacy and data protection rights.
Justice L. C. Alinnor of the Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Judicial Division, in a judgment delivered on July 21, 2026, held that Chukwuemeka failed to establish that Meta violated her constitutional right to privacy or unlawfully processed her personal data.
Chukwuemeka had alleged that the social media company collected, processed, profiled and used her personal information for behavioural advertising without her consent, contrary to Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution and provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023. She sought declarations against the alleged practices, orders compelling compliance with the data protection law and $25 million in general and exemplary damages.
However, the court found that a substantial part of the applicant’s case was based on Final Orders previously issued against Meta by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC). The regulatory orders had subsequently been challenged by Meta before the Federal High Court in Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/355/2025, Meta Platforms, Inc. v. Nigeria Data Protection Commission.
The Federal High Court proceedings eventually ended in a consent judgment setting aside the NDPC’s Final Orders. Justice Alinnor accepted arguments by Meta’s counsel, Paul Mgbeoma, that the orders, having been set aside, could no longer provide a legal foundation for Chukwuemeka’s claims.
The court also considered whether the applicant could establish her claims independently of the NDPC orders, but found that she had failed to provide sufficient evidence demonstrating how Meta specifically breached her constitutional privacy rights. The judge described the remaining allegations as largely unsupported assertions and dismissed the suit for want of merit, concluding that the case, after the collapse of its regulatory foundation, was “built on nothing.”
