Meta Platforms Inc. has filed an appeal against a Lagos high court judgment that awarded $25,000 in damages to Femi Falana over a controversial video published on its platform.
Gatekeepers News reports that the appeal, dated April 10, seeks to overturn the ruling delivered in a suit marked LD/18843MFHR/2025. The trial judge had held that the video publication violated Falana’s rights and awarded damages in his favour.
Meta, through its legal team, argued that the case was wrongly brought under fundamental rights enforcement rules, insisting that the issues relate more to defamation and reputational harm rather than constitutional rights violations. The company maintained that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter in that form.
The tech firm also rejected liability for the video, stating that the content was created and posted by a third party, identified as AfriCare Health Centre, and not by Meta itself. It argued that there was no evidence of a principal-agent relationship linking it to the publisher.
In addition, Meta challenged the finding that it breached provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, insisting it was wrongly classified as a data controller since it did not determine how the data in question was processed.
The company described the $25,000 damages awarded to Falana as unjustified and further alleged that it was denied fair hearing, claiming key arguments in its defence were not considered before judgment was delivered.
The case stems from a viral video that falsely suggested Falana was suffering from a serious illness, which the court earlier ruled was an invasion of his privacy and harmful to his reputation.
