By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
Human rights activist and senior lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has expressed confidence in his $5 million lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc., accusing the U.S.-based tech giant of invading his privacy.
Falana, through his lawyer, Olumide Babalola, accused Meta of publishing motion images and voice captioned, “AfriCare Health Center,” on their website to the effect that he suffered a disease known as ‘Prostatitis’ which the lawyer claimed constitutes an invasion of his privacy as guaranteed by section 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
The suit was filed pursuant to Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Section 24(1)(A) and (E) & Section 34(1)(D) of Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, Order 2 Rule 1 Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules, 2009.
Speaking on Politics Today, a Channels Television program, Falana emphasised the need for accountability in digital platforms, maintaining that Meta must take responsibility for the content published on its platform.
“I am very hopeful. Nobody is bigger than the law. No matter how high you are, the law is higher than you. The whole idea is to get these organisations to be responsible and look at their own system. If you create a forum, where I can just throw any garbage, and then colossal damage,” he stated.
Falana also urged the government to implement regulations to prevent reckless publications, advocating for civil remedies rather than criminalisation.
“Think the government can do something about regulations. The government will have to, the legislators will have to look at the law. I have said that I am opposed to criminalisation but there are civil remedies that can be made available to whoever is offended. And by the time these organisations are made to pay colossally, they will have to look at their system. And also have some in-built mechanisms for checkmating reckless publications,” he added.