The Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has warned content creators against taking pictures or recording videos of unsuspecting members of the public and sharing them on social media without their consent.
The commission gave the warning in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja by its Head of Legal, Enforcement and Regulations, Babatunde Bamigboye.
Bamigboye said such actions violated citizens’ rights to informational self-determination as guaranteed under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA).
According to him, the commission’s attention has been drawn to the activities of individuals who take pictures or video footage of unsuspecting members of the public and share them online for entertainment purposes.
He cited the case of a content creator who reportedly stood by roadsides in Lagos to create a reality-style show using footage of unsuspecting members of the public.
Bamigboye said processing people’s images in such circumstances required their consent unless the creator could justify the action under other lawful bases of data processing.
Invasion of Privacy
He said preliminary investigations showed that such wilful invasion of citizens’ privacy neither served a public interest nor a legitimate purpose.
“In any event, the data subjects involved have no expectation that their images will be captured and shared with the whole world by an unknown individual,” he said.
Bamigboye quoted the National Commissioner of NDPC, Vincent Olatunji, as directing social media platform owners to strengthen enforcement of their community guidelines.
He said the platforms included TikTok, X and services owned by Meta.
He added that the directive was aimed at preventing harm to individuals through unlawful and unfair processing of personal data.
The NDPC warned that any platform owner that failed to promptly address such harms could face sanctions under the NDPA.
