Nigeria’s advertising regulator have brought a 30B naira legal case against Meta – owners of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp – as well as their local affiliate based in Lagos.

The Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) is demanding that Meta and its Lagos-based agent AT3 Resources Limited pay up for failing to get averts on the social media platforms vetted by the regulatory body before publishing.

In previous crackdown on social media, Nigeria banned the micro-blogging service Twitter for seven months until it agreed to a number of terms and conditions.

Also ARCON’s ban on use of foreign models in adverts commissioned in Nigerian for the Nigerian market kicks off this month.

The ban which is hinged on “protecting local talent” was quite controversial as most western media erroneously reported it as a discrimination against White people when in actual fact it was on all non-Nigerian of all races.

Meta and AT3 Resources Limited have yet to comment on the lawsuit filed by the ARCON.