Meta faces probe across 21 African markets
On today's edition of Techpoint Digest, we discuss Meta being probed in 21 African markets, Risevest turning a regulatory setback into a win, and Kenya raids targeting fake investment scams.
<br />
Sawubona,<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Victoria from Techpoint here,<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Here’s what I’ve got for you today:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Meta faces probe across 21 African markets<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Risevest turns regulatory setback into win<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Fake investment scams targeted in Kenya raids<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Meta faces probe across 21 African markets<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Meta<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Big tech is back on regulators’ radar in Africa. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition and Consumer Commission (CCCC) has launched a formal investigation into Meta Platforms Ireland Limited over changes it made last year to WhatsApp Business API rules that could shut out rival AI providers from using the platform, and regulators across the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa region are watching closely.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The probe centres on updates to the “WhatsApp Business Solution Terms” introduced in October 2025, which COMESA says effectively exclude third-party AI services while preserving full access for Meta’s own Meta AI tools. The competition watchdog says this could amount to an abuse of Meta’s dominant position in the Common Market, which includes 21 member states like Kenya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and Zambia, and may harm competition by locking out rival AI developers.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
For now, this is just the start of an investigation, not a ruling that Meta has done anything illegal. The CCCC will study the conduct and its market impact before drawing any conclusions, and interested stakeholders have been invited to submit written feedback by March 16, 2026.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
This isn’t the first time Meta has faced regulatory heat in Kenya and across Africa. Last year, Kenyan regulators scrutinised digital platforms over data practices and misinformation, and Nigeria’s data protection authority has fined tech giant Meta for privacy violations. Globally, in Europe, for instance, watchdogs, including the European Commission and Italy’s competition authority, have been probing Meta’s AI policies on WhatsApp for months, with concerns about unfairly limiting access to rival AI chatbots and possibly brea...
